14 THE HORSE 



knee to the horse's body. This is a very im- 

 portant point, as no horse was ever good for much 

 on the road whose knees were too high up. 



The hind legs should be flat, as well as clean. 

 There is an old saying that they should look as if 

 the skin had been removed, the bone scraped and 

 the skin put back again. This excessive cleanness 

 goes with highly-bred horses and is to be insisted 

 on in all horses that properly belong in that class, 

 such as thoroughbreds, trotters, hackneys, etc. 

 In colder-blooded horses we should demand at 

 least a reasonable approach to it; as much, we 

 may say, as the breed admits of. The gambrel 

 joint should be strong and well developed, never 

 slender or " dandified," and it is also desirable to 

 have it, relatively, near the ground, though this 

 is not as important as the position of the fore 

 knee. 



The horse should stand square on his legs with 

 his feet well under him, and his hoofs should be 

 straight fore and aft, neither toeing in nor toeing 

 out. 



For the body of the horse, the back should be 

 short. 



The hind quarters should be well developed, 

 with the hip-joints fairly well forward. The 

 rump should be, not straight, but rather straight 

 than drooping. That is, the line from the top of 



