DEVELOPMENT AND LEANNESS OF MUSCLES. 229 



The appetite as a rule should be good ; although horses may 

 become a bit '' dainty " in their feeding, when they have been 

 wound up in their training to '' full concert pitch." 



2. Development and Leanness of Muscles. — The muscles of 

 the croup (those over the quarters) should present a rounded 

 surface, and those over the loins and back, at each side of the 

 backbone, should stand out in bold relief The line (some- 

 times known as the '' water-mark ") down the thigh (Fig. 

 260) should be clearly apparent. The muscles just above 

 the fore arm should form a rounded mass, and those of the 

 shoulders should be well defined. There should be over the 

 ribs a thick sheet of muscle, which should show well above 

 the level of the part of the flank in rear of it. This muscular 

 covering of the ribs terminates abruptly in an irregular line 

 which goes downwards and backwards in the direction of the 

 groin, and which can be seen plainly only when there is no 

 excess of fat about the part I may explain that in forced 

 respiration (p. 39), the muscles which cover the ribs are 

 brought into active play, and they consequently become 

 largely developed by the process that brings the galloper, or 

 fast trotter, into condition. Hence, if there be in a horse a 

 marked difference of level between the surface in front of the 

 line in question, and that in the rear of it (Fig. 322), we may 

 reasonably conclude that he has done a good deal of that 

 kind of work which brings his lungs into rapid action, and 

 that his system is not overloaded with fat. The fact of the 

 '' water-mark " being clearly indicated is also dependent on 

 the absence of fat about the part. 



The line which marks the termination of the sheet of muscle to which I 

 have alluded, corresponds to the posterior border of the fleshy portion of the 

 ^amiiculusy and indicates the commencement of the aponeurotic portion. 

 The " water-maik," or *' quarter-mark,'* to which I have also drawn attention, 

 is the line of separation between the rotator tiUalis and the abductor femoris. 



The most time-honoured method of ascertaining whether or 

 not a horse is in condition is to feel his crest with the hand, 

 so as to find out if it be hard or soft. This plan has its merits ; 

 for the crest is a part on which many "heavy-necked" horses 



