EXTERNAL FORMATION. 69 



the muscles running between these salient points, and at the same 

 time furnishing them with, under the circumstances, the greatest 

 advantages in their action. Length and straightness in the quar- 

 ters must therefore be regarded as characteristic attributes of the 

 race-horse." Of the probability of meeting with too great a width 

 of hip in the race-horse I am extremely doubtful, and until I see 

 it I shall continue sceptical. The Melbournes, which have this 

 part wider than in any other strain, are certainly not to be despised, 

 and, in spite of Mr. Percivall, I must, on the contrary, continue to 

 admire them, whenever they are to be found; my chief regret is, 

 that wide hips are so scarce among the descendants of that horse. 

 The second division op the body, or the chest, in the 

 thorough-bred horse, must afford sufficient room for the heart and 

 lungs, but it must not be too wide, or it will interfere with the free 

 play of the shoulder-blade as it glides on the side. An open bosom 

 is regarded as a sure sign of want of pace by every racing man of 

 experience, and I know of no single exception. One of the finest two- 

 year olds I ever saw in every other respect was Lord Standbroke's 

 Rose de Florence ; but I could have laid any reasonable odds that 

 she would he deficient in pace, because she was made as wide as a 

 cart-horse between the forelegs, and so she proved to he on trial. 

 A horse of fifteen hands three, or sixteen hands when in stud con- 

 dition should measure at least seventy-four inches, and should he 

 wide through the part where the rider's knees come on the saddle; 

 but below this the ribs should rapidly shelve inwards, and in this 

 way allow the shoulder points to come closer together, and the 

 elbows to act without being "tied." The anatomy of this part is 

 treated of elsewhere, and I am now regarding it simply in propor- 

 tion to the rest of the body. Anatomically, and considered per se, 

 a round or barrel-like chest is the best, because it admits of more 

 free expansion and contraction, but when either high speed or 

 smooth action is required, this formation, is objectionable for the 

 reasons I have given above, and in all cases it is to be avoided in 

 the thorough-bred horse, while in some other breeds it must be 

 looked for with great anxiety. It has been proved that good wind 

 may be obtained from a chest possessing great depth without much 

 width, and in some cases with a very narrow bosom, as in the cele- 

 brated Crucifix (dam of Priam) ; and as the opposite proportions 

 are incompatible with speed, they must on that account be alto- 

 gether rejected. The withers are generally thin, and sometimes 

 raised quite into a razor-like form, which, however, is a defect, as 

 it is attended with no advantages to counterbalance the difficulty 

 which it presents in the way of the saddler, who is constantly being 

 called on to prevent his tree, hurting the horse's back. A mode- 

 rate development of the spinous processes is required to give attach- 

 ment to the muscles which support the neck and move the shoulder, 



