SLOPE OF SHOULDER IN CART-HORSES. 



189 



English Cart-horse Society. He admires *'the shoulder well 

 let down into the chest, and with a moderate slope , it is not 

 necessary to be too oblique, as with a hunter or a race-horse, 

 but just sufficient to ensure free action of the fore legs, 

 encased with plenty of muscle, which will enable him to lean 

 into the collar It is essential that he should be a free, 



fast walker . . Action means power, time and money.'* 

 Mr. F Street, in The History of the Shire Horse, advocates, 

 "■ Shoulders well thrown back.'* Mr. Thomas Dykes, late 

 Secretary of the Clydesdale Horse Society, remarks in the 



Fig. 287 — Diagram to expl^iin Figs 185 and 1S6 



Stud Book of that breed, that ** the shoulder should be more 

 oblique than in the English draught-horse. This, indeed, is 

 one of the distinctive features of the Clydesdale, as to his 

 formation of shoulder is largely owing his long, quick step, 

 for which he is so justly admired. The upright shoulder of 

 the English cart-horse may certainly give greater power in 

 the collar, but if shortness and slowness of step be considered, 

 this cannot be called an advantage. The English horse, 

 besides, is more accustomed to sheer dragging and to working 

 in chains, while his Scottish rival is chiefly employed in the 



