THE FORE LIMB. 



p. 209), we may with reason conclude that Nature, having 

 furnished the animal with a good surface for the collar, 

 intended him for draught rather than for speed. Here we 

 must not be led astray by the appearance of any undue thick- 

 ness of the neck muscles which might fill up this dip ; for 

 the fact of their being heavy would be even more pre- 

 judicial to the galloping pretensions of the horse than if the 

 shoulders were somewhat " loaded." I may here mention that, 

 as the neck projects beyond the fore legs, weight in it, by its 

 increased leverage, will interfere with the action of the fore 

 limb to a proportionately greater degree than weight in the 

 shoulders, which will be placed more or less above this bony 

 and muscular spring, to which I have alluded in Chapter 

 VIII. 



I would wish to draw special attention to the fact that 

 obliquity and lightness of shoulders, by tending to render the 

 animal's action perfect, are indispensable requisites for enabling 

 him to "stay" over a distance of ground. I have seen many 

 " sprinters " which have had upright and loaded shoulders ; but 

 I have never known a genuine stayer — like what Ormonde, 

 St. Gatien, or Robert the Devil was — who had that kind of 

 conformation. 



In the sho2dders of the draught-horse we should have 

 plenty of pov/er and a broad bearing surface for the collar, 

 into which the animal should be able to put all his weight. 

 It is evident that he cannot do this, if his shoulder-blades be 

 very oblique, which is a form aimed at by the majority of 

 exhibitors. Any such "show" question does not concern us 

 at present ; for I am regarding the horse entirely from a useful 

 point of view. I hnd that the deductions I have made in this 

 chapter are, generally, in accordance with the experience of 



