HORSES 117 



liorse, the rear end of the trace is as a rule attached to a poinl, 

 that is considerably lower than its point of attachment at the 

 hame.' For pulling a heavy load the hitch is as low and as 

 close to the horse as possible. This gives the horse a chance 

 to lift. And his lifting power is his greatest power. It is 

 constantly being developed by holding up or lifting its body. 

 With this in view, it can be seen that with a proper slope to the 

 shoulders the pull will come at right angles to the front sur- 

 face of the shoulder where the collar rests. This is the way 

 it should be. When the shoulder is too nearly vertical there 

 is too much pull or pressure on top of the neck which lessens 

 the power of the horse and also causes sore neck. Improper 

 care and handling will also cause sore neck. 



Length of Leg and Body Depth. — It is frequently said that 

 a draft horse should be "low set." By this is meant that the 

 length of its legs should not be too great for the depth of its 

 body. An "upstanding" horse is one whose legs are rather 

 long and whose body is not very deep. The distance from the 

 ground or floor to the under side of the body at the chest, 

 which is the length of leg, should be equal to the depth of 

 body at the chest. This is the vertical dimension just back 

 of the front legs. A horse that is too upstanding cannot 

 develop as much power as it should and a horse that is too 

 close to the ground cannot develop enough speed in either the 

 walk or the trot. 



Cleanness of Limbs. — The upper part of the limbs shoukl 

 be well muscled, but from the hocks and knee down the legs 

 should be as free from muscle and fat as possible. The hock 

 is the joint at the middle of the hind limb and the knee is at 

 the middle of the front leg. The purpose or function of these 

 joints is to give flexibility to the limbs. The leg should bend 

 freely at these points, therefore, should be as free from fleshiness 

 as possible. 



These parts, however, should be large and strong but should 

 be bony and tendonous. The tendons from the muscles above 

 pass down here and these together with the bones and skin 

 over them should constitute the joints. 



The hock should be wide from rear to front because a wide 

 hock is stronger than a narrow one, as a wide joint is stronger 



