!§?? ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



X. The Body as Standing Facing You. 



The body of the horse viewed in front should present an oval shape, 

 squared off from the arm or elbow joint in front to the point of the 

 shoulder as on page 187. The perfect contour of breast, and especially the 

 magnificent muscularity of the arm is near perfection. The neck rising 

 grandly from the chest shows the perfect proportion of the parts each to 

 the other ; the knee and fetlock joints are strong and compact, gradually 

 rounded to meet the shank or leg and bones of the pastern joint. The 

 hoofs are staunch, tough, strong, with nothing about them to denote a flat foot, 

 yet rather open behind, showing a perfect hoof. 



Let us now examine the Ijlood horse of the present day as quoted 

 from Herbert, and also that of the ancient Greeks as written upon by 

 Xenophon. It will show that in those days the breeding of horses was a 

 fine art, as was also equestrianism as exhibited in the exquisite sculptures 

 that have come down to us. Yet the quotation we make will show that the 

 horse of the Greeks, useful and admirable as he was, was what the English 

 would call a cab or Galloway, with a dash of thorough blood, and what 

 we would call pony built with a dash of thorough blood — something in 

 fact like a chunky Morgan horse. The quotation nevertheless will make 

 a good study for the young horseman, and is as follows : 



* ' We will write how one may be the least deceived in the purchase 

 id horses. It is evident then that of the unbroken colt one must judge 

 ))y the construction, since, if he have never been backed he will afford no 

 very clear evidences of his spirit. Of his body then, we say it is 

 necessary first to examine the feet, for as in a house it matters not how 

 fine may be the superstructure if there be not sufficien.t foundations, so 

 m a war horse there is no utility, no, not if he have all other points perfect 

 but be badly footed. But in examining the feet, it is befitting first to 

 iook to the horny portion of the hoofs, for those horses which have the 

 horn thick are far superior in their feet to those which have it thin. Nor 

 will it be well if one fail next to observe whether the hoofs be upright, 

 both before and behind, or low and flat to the ground ; for high hoofs 

 keep the frog at a distance from the earth, while the flat tread with equal 

 pressure on the soft and hard parts of the foot, as is the case with bandy- 

 legged men. And Simon justly observes that well footed horses can bo 

 known by their tramp, for the hollow hoof rings like a cymbal when it 

 strikes the solid earth. But having begun from below, let us ascend to 

 the other parts of the body. It is needful, then, that the parts above 

 the hoofs and below the fetlocks (pasterns) be not too erect, like those of 

 the goat ; for legs of this kind being stiff and inflexible, are apt to jar 

 the rider, and are more liable to inflammation. The bones must not. 



