i64 THE TRUNK. 



** slack in the loins," which I have used, is applied to the 

 objectionable condition of the last rib being short and at a 

 considerable distance from the point of the hip. As this kind 

 of conformation usually accompanies a more or less weak 

 state of the muscles of the loins, the expression is not 

 altogether inappropriate. Some persons ignorantly think 

 that it is an advantage for a horse, as regards speed, to be a 

 bit '' slack in the loins ; " because (so they say) such a shape 

 allows the animal more freedom in bringing his hind legs 

 forward, than if he were well ribbed up. I need hardly point 

 out that the form of a horse's back ribs cannot in any way 

 affect the action of his hind legs. This absurd notion was, 

 no doubt, started by some person who supposed that the hip 

 joints were at the points of the hips' Owing to sexual 

 causes, mares, as a rule, are not so well ribbed up as horses. 

 Hence some slight slackness in the hollow of the flank is not 

 such a grave fault in them as in entires and geldings. The fact, 

 however, remains, that for all purposes of work, a horse or 

 mare cannot be too well ribbed up. 



Merche remarks that : '* Among common horses, the last 

 rib is less arched and less carried back than among blood 

 horses ; and the flank consequently appears longer." 



St Simon, among many other great^ race-horses, was an 

 instance of a fine stayer, who possessed singularly little depth 

 at the withers, but had great roundness of chest behind the 

 girth, and also fair depth of body at the lowest point of his 

 back. It is essential for the race-horse to obtain good 

 breathing power by roundness of ribs, so that his body may 

 have its powers of breathing fully developed without its 

 length being unduly increased. 



The great advantage of depth in the front portion of the 

 chest is to allow of good length of shoulder blade, which is 

 indispensable to the weight-carrier and jumper. 



Abdomen. — ^We have seen on p. 37 that the trunk is 

 divided by the diaphragm into two portions, the chest and 

 abdomen ; the former containing the lungs and heart ; the 



