HINTS ON HORSES 



63 



To give an impression of the good points, 

 and to eliminate the bad points, is the aim of 

 the dealer, and also of the artist, if he wishes 

 to make the most pleasing portrait. 



A well-formed horse naturally stands over 

 a lot of ground. If not so well formed, he is 

 made to stand so as to give a good impres- 

 sion — a training carried to extremes in fancy 

 harness horses. A man breaking a young 

 horse may be seen gently tapping him behind 

 the knees to make him advance his forelegs, 

 at the same time forcing the head back with 

 the bridle, the object being to give the 

 shoulder the best appearance possible. Ap- 

 parently the angle that a horse's forelegs 

 make with his shoulder is practically the same 

 in all horses, consequently a horse with an 

 oblique shoulder stands with upright forelegs, 

 whereas the horse with an upright shoulder 

 must incHne his forelegs backwards. 



If this is so, to balance properly, the horse 

 must advance his hind legs. As a result the 

 ground covered by a straight-shouldered 

 horse is small. A well-formed horse will 

 easily learn to stand well. Not so a badly 



shaped one. The latter soon forgets his 

 lessons, and, when the breaker is no longer 

 with him, some people employ the gag and 

 bearing rein. When a horse unnaturally 

 stands over a lot of ground a deficiency must 

 of needs show itself, and the slack-loined 

 appearance of these straddled-out horses is 

 the unpleasant result. 



To make a mean-crouped horse carry his 

 tail well, a padded crupper is resorted to. 

 The object of disfiguring horses by docking 

 their tails is to give the impression that the 

 quarters are bigger than they really are. The 

 reason for docking polo ponies is that, in play- 

 ing a stroke far back, the stick may not be 

 caught tight by the pony's tail. On the other 

 hand, there are many good polo ponies with 

 swish tails. Apart from the barbarity of the 

 practice, an undocked polo pony is better able 

 to twist and turn, and stop, to the require- 

 ments of the game. In support of this state- 

 ment, notice the manner in which a greyhound 

 gets the fullest value out of his tail, both as 

 a rudder and a brake. 



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