1 82 THE FORE LIMB. 



and good loins of the mare. An inspection of the illustrations 

 in this book, of hackneys, Cleveland bays and Yorkshire 

 coach-horses will further elucidate my meaning. The remarks 

 I have here made are naturally comparative , for I am of 

 course aware that it is impossible for a harness-horse, any 

 more than a saddle-horse, to have too good fore legs. 



The Shoulder. — The degree of slope of the shoulder is 

 difficult for inexperienced persons to determine, especially 

 when the part is covered by fat or by thick muscles. French 

 writers give rules for measuring with a kind of clinometer the 

 obliquity of the shoulder-blade, which is an operation, I must 

 confess, that I have not been able to perform satisfactorily. 

 I have studied the subject for many years, and find that I can 

 rely fairly well on the instruction my eyes have received 

 during that time. The horse with the most oblique shoulders 

 I have ever seen was St. Simon (Fig. 9), whose photograph, 

 I regret to say, does not render this point properly, as it 

 is a little foreshortened. The lines of his shoulder are 

 correctly shown m Fig. 229, which is a reproduction of 

 a painting made from a photograph that was too badly 

 done to bear reproduction. As this illustration gives his 

 exact outline taken in strict profile, it is valuable for com- 

 parison ; although much of the detail which would have 

 been given in a good photograph is, naturally, wanting. 

 Ormonde (Frontispiece), Lord Arthur (Fig. 329), Midship- 

 mite (Fig. 260), Dynamite (Fig. 237), Predominant (Fig. 

 236), and The Brat (Fig. 371) had very good, sloping 

 shoulders. As instances of straight shoulders, I give 

 Figs. 247, 280 and 284. Taking into consideration every- 

 thing I have written in the present book on this point, I 

 think we may accept the conclusion that obliquity 

 of shoulder is a desirable point in every kind of horse, 

 except perhaps in heavy draught animals which are not 

 required to go out of a walk. If they have at times 

 to exceed this pace, on hard ground, as dray horses have 

 to do in London, they should undoubtedly have sloping 



