SADDLE HORSES. 145 
A saddle horse should have a rather short back, 
the least bit curved, which is the true Arab forma- 
tion. Mr. 8. W. Parlin has indicated this shape in 
the following description of Flying Eaton, a noted 
Maine horse: “While he had a strong, broad loin 
and excellent coupling, there was a graceful down- 
ward curvature of the spine in front of the coupling 
which gave him in some degree the appearance of 
being slightly sway-backed,—a conformation often 
found among the descendants of Sherman Morgan.” } 
“Just the curve,” writes Mr. Palgrave, describing 
the Arab horses in the Emir’s stables at Hail, “ which 
indicates springiness without any weakness.” 
But it must be admitted that the rule as to short 
backs is fairly riddled with exceptions. Very speedy 
horses, as clistinguished from weight-carriers and 
“stayers,” commonly have backs of medium or even 
greater length; and Whyte-Melville states that the 
best three weight-carriers he ever knew all had the 
fault of being overlong in the back. 
Other marks of a good saddle horse are short 
cannon bones, strong quarters and hocks, —it is an 
old stable aphorism, “No ’ocks, no ’unter,” —a neck 
rather long, so that his wind may be good, feet 
rather small, so that he may step lightly, and 
pasterns somewhat oblique and yielding. A short, 
straight pastern makes a hard gait, and is apt to 
break down, and a pastern too long or too oblique 
is an even greater indication of weakness. The pas- 
tern of a saddle horse is next in importance to 
the shoulder. Upon it depends his elasticity, and 
to a considerable extent his jumping power, and 
1 See page 197. 
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