Mtirdi, 1914 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



40;") 



Jumping. 



As the oulstandinp principle 

 hearing upon the question of the 

 rt^hition exi-stinj^ between the con- 

 formation of horses and their 

 juinpin<j ca])acity, there is to be 

 noted the fact that it is the hind 

 limbs, quarters, and loins which 

 have to bear the brunt when a 

 horse jumps, for upon them de- 

 \-olves the dutv both of raisin 

 the forehead and of propelling the 

 body upwards and forwards over 

 the obstacle. Consequently the pri- 

 mary desideratum to be souclit for 

 as regards a suitable make and 

 shape for juinping, is that there 

 should be indications of plenty of 

 strength in these several parts — 

 good, liroad loins, muscular and 

 powerful quarters, and stout hind 

 legs, constituting, so to speak, the 

 fundamental basis upon which 

 eood jumping powers are built up. 

 Particularly essential is it that 

 the hocks should be strong, a fea,- 

 tnre which is indicated by their 



being broad and large in shape, 

 for these joints play a leading 

 ])art, and are subjected to special 

 stress in the act of jumping. In 

 fact, they are more or less the 

 pi\ot of the whole mechanism 

 which is brought into play in 

 jumping, and if one is to single 

 out one ])articidar individual point 

 as being of greater importance 

 than any other for :umping pur- 

 poses it is unquestionably the pos- 

 session of good, strong hocks. 

 Nothing is a more fatal fault in 

 this respect than weak, small hock 

 joints, for, besides affording an in- 

 dication of poor jumping powers, 

 such are quite unfitted to stand 

 the strain which jumiping imposes 

 upon them, and if a horse exhibit- 

 ing this failing is at all freaiientlv 

 iimiped the probability is that its 

 hocks will soon begin to show 

 siens of injury and eventually be- 

 Gome unsound. 



Another most desirable point as 

 regards the hind limbs is that the 

 hocks should be well let down, 



■ — — ■ ■■ ■ ■ -KT^m; •r'-'V^ J'.,.- sr- 



the distance between the point of 

 the hip l)one and the hock joint 

 being as great as possible. This 

 feature indicates that the animal 

 is able to exert a great amount of 

 leverage with it.s hind legs when 

 •jumping, and the more leverage 

 there is the more effective a degree 

 of projuilsion ican be developed, and 

 the greater, consequently, will be 

 the horse's jnm])ing capacities. 

 Any r tendeiiicv to sickle-shaped 

 hocks constitutes a very objection}- 

 able point so far as jumping is 

 concerned, inasmuch as when the 

 hocks are of this conformation the 

 horse is unable to straig'hten them 

 out fully in striking off from the 

 ground with its hind legs when 

 taking a leap, and this much dim. 

 inishes the force of the propulsion, 

 thus ' materially impairing its 

 powers as a jumper. 



— The Quarters. — 



In regard to the conformation 

 of the quarters, there is to be spe- 

 cially noted that a welKsloped po- 

 sition of the pelvis is a condition 

 which is eminently favorable to the 

 development of good jumping abili- 

 ties ; and it is, of course, well 

 known tjiat hunters with a droop- 

 ing croup and quarters— a feature 

 which especially often character- 

 ises Irish hunters — ^are iisually 

 found to iump particularly well. 

 Nor is, indeed, an actual goose- 

 rumped shape of the quarters in 

 the least objectionable regarded 

 solely from a jumping point of 

 \iew, howe\er unattractive this 

 peculiarity may look. In fact, it 

 is just the reverse, for it generalily 

 conduces to cleverness in jumpinp- 

 in a hunter. The explanation why 

 slop. nor or drooping quarters tend 

 specially to promote good jump- 

 inp- powers lies in the fact that 

 horses pos.sessinf?- this kind of con- 

 formation are particularly favor- 

 ably placed for brinoincr their hind 

 lep-s well underneath the body 

 when preparing to leap, which ren- 

 ders it all the easier for them to 

 raise the forehand off the PTound 

 and to develon a high degree of 

 proinilsion with their hind quar- 

 ters. It may, however, be point- 

 ed out that, while favorable to 

 lumping, quarters which droop 

 much will impair a horse's o^allop- 

 in? speed to a greater or less ex- 

 tent. 



— Raising the Forehand. — 



, As it is essential that a horse 

 should be able readily and easily 

 to raise its forehand off the efound 

 when taking off at a jump, it na- 

 turally follows that for horses to 

 iump well they should be light in 

 front. Lightness of forehand for 



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