WITHERS. 195 



tached to the withers and which helps to draw the shoulder 

 forward, and by affording increased space for the top of the 

 shoulder blade, it favours length of this important bone. The 

 further back the withers extend, the more do they, by giving a 

 big surface for attachment, indicate large development of the 

 muscle which extends the back and loins, and the more room 

 do they afford for the backward slope of the shoulder blade. 

 Hence, withers which are high and which extend far back, are 

 generally associated with a good carriage of the head and 

 neck ; free movement of the shoulder ; long and sloping 

 shoulder blades ; and strength in the back and loins. Such 

 a conformation is desirable in every kind of horse, and 

 especially in the race-horse, hunter, and steeplechaser. 

 Low withers, on the contrary, are usually accompanied by 

 heavy, short and upright shoulders. Lecoq observes that 

 " in the mule, and especially in the ass, the withers are always 

 low ; a conformation which is in accordance with the small 

 development of the paces of these animals." Dealers and 

 others, when "showing off" a horse which has high withers, 

 not unfrequently endeavour to direct attention to this fact, as 

 a proof of the length and obliquity of the shoulders. I need 

 hardly point out, even to the inexperienced horseman, that 

 any particular part should be judged, if possible, on its own 

 merits, and not by those of another part, however much 

 excellence in the latter may indicate its possession by the 

 former. 



The Height of the Withers is, strictly speaking, that 

 of the spines of the vertebrae of the part and the soft tissues 

 which cover their summits. Their apparent height is the 

 distance they project above the top of the shoulder blades ; 

 although I must confess that it is often difficult to tell how 



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