BACK AND LOINS. 199 



the breast, two deep depressions in which the jugular grooves 

 terminate below " ( Go7ida7(x and Barrier). These writers point 

 to the fact that narrowness in front may therefore be either 

 natural or acquired. In the cart-horse, width of breast is a 

 desirable point ; for he requires to have massive muscles. 

 Although the race-horse, cross-country animal, and hack 

 should be light in front, and should consequently not be 

 broad between the fore legs ; still undue narrowness of that 

 part (^see PI. 10), indicating, as it would do, want of proper 

 muscular development, would in all cases be a defect. As 

 "width " and " narrowness " of breast are comparative terms 

 which are practically impossible to define with accuracy, I 

 have given in PI. 9 a front view of a well-shaped hack 

 which was nearly thoroughbred. 



Back and Loins. — The upper line of these parts should, 

 it is generally considered, run in a straight line, or with the 

 slightest possible rise, to the croup [see Pis. 7, 31, 33 and 62). 

 When the animal has a "roach-back" [see PI. 36) — that is, 

 when this line is decidedly convex — the muscle which runs 

 along the top of the back, and which has a powerful action on 

 all the paces of the horse, will be found wanting in develop- 

 ment ; and the chest will, as a rule, be flat-sided. This con- 

 dition of back, from the fact of its assuming, to some extent, 

 the form of an arch, is generally supposed to be advantageous 

 for carrying heavy burdens, as in the case of baggage animals. 

 I am not, however, able to furnish any actual proof that such 

 is the case. A "hollow-backed" or "saddle-backed" horse, 

 on the contrary, is one which has this line concave on account 

 of the arrangement of the vertebrae of the part. It is 

 frequently the result of relaxation of the ligaments which 



