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SOME RULES OF HORSEMANSHIP 
height a horse of fifteen hands two inches 
appears the best under the saddle ; so from 
fifteen to sixteen hands is about the right 
height. 
The saddle-horse should have a handsome 
head, well set on; be wide between the eyes 
(denoting intelligence); have rather small, 
pointed ears, open nostrils, an arching crest 
and high withers, with plenty of forehand 
(the of a horse which is in front of the 
rider). He should be rather short than long 
in the barrel, or what is technically termed 
“well ribbed up.” A straight croup denotes 
blood; the slant toward the tail in the thor- 
oughbred is but slight and in the Arab is im- 
perceptible. Added to these good points he 
should have powerful quarters, particularly 
when jumping is required of him; good legs, 
a full and powerful chest, pasterns of medium 
length, round hoofs, rather large than small, 
and good action. The last he will have if he 
possesses a sloping shoulder added to the other 
excellent points, for a sloping shoulder in- 
variably accompanies an arched crest or neck 
and high withers, the action of the bones of the 
shoulder governing the action of the fore legs; 
but if the quarters are narrow and the croup 
too sloping, the animal will straddle with an 
awkward gait. A horse well formed in front 
is sometimes, though rarely, misshaped behind. 
All manner of boots, knee protectors, weights 
and outlandish shoeing are then called into 
requisition to remedy the evils of interfering, 
overreaching, cutting and the like. 
Muscular loins are imperative in racers and 
hunters. They should also characterize all 
saddle-horses, for it is impossible that the 
rider can be safely carried unless the back 
be strong. Weak loins are usually associated 
with a narrow chest and lanky frame and 
denote lack of endurance. A hollow-backed 
horse, or a “‘roach-back,” should be rejected. 
A peculiarity of the roach-backed animal is 
that in leaping he springs suddenly from the 
earth and buck-jumps his fences without giv- 
ing the rider time to prepare for the leap. The 
animal with this deformity does not rise to the 
leap, a certain indication that the loins are 
defective. 
The tail is a continuation of the vertebra. 
A stout dock or root to the tail denotes a cor- 
responding strength of the horse’s spine. 
The position of the tail is very important. It 
should begin with the prolonged line of the 
back. Animals with tails well set on are in- 
variably remarkable for speed and endurance 
as well as great activity. Docking is a fash- 
ionable, cruel and useless fad, and will sooner 
or later go out of fashion as it has before. 
The head well set on is carried in advance 
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of the body only so far as is necessary to coun- 
teract the comparative lightness of the forward 
- structures. Thinness and smallness of the neck 
areamong the peculiarfeatures of weakness and 
emaciation in the horse. This is always notice- 
able in old and half-starved animals ; hence 
it may be inferred not to be a sign of vigor in 
a young horse. 
The ewe-necked horse is one in which every 
appearance of crest is absent. Animals of this 
formation, while generally active, are prone 
to be weakly. Other parts of their bodies are 
usually narrow and ungainly. 
A very important point in the saddle-horse 
is the formation of the pasterns. There are the 
long and slanting pasterns, the natural pasterns, 
the upright pasterns and the overshot pasterns, 
the last named being about the worst that a 
saddle-horse can possibly be afflicted with. The 
pasterns are the natural springs of the horse’s 
body, hence the sloping pastern is an indica- 
tion of an easy, springy gait; but the long, 
sloping pastern is a certain indication of weak- 
ness, and, therefore, to be avoided. The fetlock 
of a racer when the animal trots or gallops at 
full speed, touches the ground every time the 
weight rests upon the hoof. 
In the properly constructed horse, the hoofs 
point directly forward; those that point in- 
ward or outward, indicate an imperfect con- 
struction of the legs and body and cause more 
or less faulty action. Beware of upright hoofs 
and narrow, contracted heels. 
In the saddle-horse a good, fast walk is 
desirable, and in this respect many horses are 
deficient for lack of a little care. Nothing 
is more annoying than a mincing trot when 
other horses are walking, and it becomes very 
tiresome in a long ride. In the walk each foot 
is removed from the ground separately. A 
fast walker places the hind foot some distance 
in advance of the track of the fore foot of the 
corresponding side, while the reverse is true 
of the slow walker. The trot, unless it is fast, 
is a hard gait for the rider of a certain school 
of riding, of which something will be said 
hereafter. The trotter lifts the near fore foot 
and the off hind one simultaneously. If the 
gait be slow, the track of the hind foot is con- 
siderably in the rear of that of the fore foot 
of the same side, but as the speed increases 
the track of the hind foot approaches, over- 
takes and leaves that of the fore foot far in the 
rear. At a three-minute gait a distance of 
fifty to sixty inches intervenes. 
A pacer, or racker, lifts the feet of the same 
side together. This gait, like the trot, may 
be slow or very fast. Here the track of the 
hind foot of the same side is far in advance of 
the fore foot, the distance increasing in pro- 
