146 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
it is at this point that race horses most frequently 
give out. ; 
A good saddle horse, like a good horse for any 
other purpose, should be well “ribbed up.” A con- 
siderable space between the last rib and the hip 
bone almost invariably indicates a want of toughness. 
Animals thus built usually require more grain, and 
are capable of les# work, than “close-ribbed” horses. 
A thin waist also commonly shows a want of strength; 
but, as I have remarked with reference to harness 
horses, this is by no means an unfailing sign. The 
famous steeple-chaser, Emblem, a beautiful bay mare 
with wonderful shoulders, had no “middle piece,” 
and yet she was a noted stayer. Hempstead, an 
American gelding remarkable as a jumper, was an- 
other instance of a wasp-waisted but strong horse. 
It may be doubted, however, if in these and in other 
like cases the want of strength is not supplied by 
extraordinary courage and resolution. A coarse-bred 
horse that was also thin-waisted would probably 
show, as well as feel, a lack of endurance. 
A horse with low withers is, generally speaking, 
unfit for the saddle, especially if he stands higher 
behind than in front,—a conformation apt to be 
found both in fast runners and in fast trotters. 
When such horses have good legs and feet, they can 
carry a light man without danger of becoming knee- 
sprung, but weight-carrying is not their forte, and 
I am inclined to think that they will never trot so 
fast under saddle as they will in harness; whereas, 
as a rule, a trotter is estimated to be about three 
seconds (per mile) faster under saddle than in har- 
ness. During one whole winter I rode a horse of 
