186 



that's it ; 



of an animal are thus placed and 

 named : the muzzle, 1 ; gullet, 2 ; 

 windpipe, 3 ; crest, 4 ; withers, 5 ; 

 chest, or counter, 6 ; girth, 7 ; 

 back, 8 ; loins, 9 ; hip, 10 ; croup, 

 11 ; haunch, or quarters, 12; 

 ^/^A, 13 ; hock, 14 ; shand, or 

 cannon, 15 ; fetlock, 16 ; pastern, 

 17 ; shoulder, 18 ; elbow, 19 ; 

 fore-thigh, or fore-arm, 20 ; &>2e<9, 

 21 ; coronet, 22 ; pozV^ £Ae 

 /iOC&, 23 ; ham-string, 24. 



533. 



An old writer says that a perfect horse should 

 have the fcraw/ broad, the kips round, the mane 

 'ong ; a countenance like a lion, a »o.se like a 

 sheep, the head, legs, and skin of a deer, the throat 

 and neck of a wolf, and the ear and tail of a fox. 



The " points " of a horse are more scientifi- 

 cally defined in the following :— The head should 

 not be disproportionally large, and should be 

 well set on ; i. e., the lower jaw-bones should be 

 sufficiently far apart to enable the head to form 

 that angle with the neck which gives free motion 

 and a graceful carriage to it, and prevents its 

 bearing too heavily on the hand. The eye shoud 

 be large and a little prominent, and the eyelid 

 fine and thin. The ear should be small and 

 erect, and quick in motion. The lop-ear indi- 

 cates dulness or stubbornness ; and when it is 

 habitually laid too far back upon the neck, there 

 is too frequently a disposition to mischief. The 

 nostril in every breed should be somewhat ex- 

 panded ; it can hardly be too much so in the 

 racer, the hunter, the roadster, and the coach- 

 horse, for the horse breathes only through the 

 nostril, and would be dangerously distressed 

 when much speed is required of him, if the nos- 

 tril could not dilate to admit and to return the 

 air. The neck should be long, rather than short ; 

 it then enables the animal to graze with more 

 t-.isi- ;> ,i to throw his weight more forward, 

 wnethvr he is in harness or galloping at Ids ut- 



most speed. It should be muscular at its base, 

 and gradually become fine as it approaches the 

 head. The withers should be somewhat high 

 in every horse, except perhaps that of heavy 

 draught, and it does not harm him, for there is 

 larger surface for the attachment of the muscles 

 of the back, and they act at greater mechanical 

 advantage. A slanting direction of the shoulder 

 gives also much mechanical advantage, as well 

 as an easy and pleasant action, and a greater 

 degree of safety. It must not, however, exist in 

 any considerable degree in the horse of draught, 

 and particularly of heavy draught. The chest 

 must be capacious, for it contains the heart and 

 the lungs, the organs on which the speed and 

 endurance of the horse depend. Capacity of 

 chest is indispensable in every horse, but the 

 form of the chest admits of variation. In the 

 waggon-horse the circular chest may be admit- 

 ted, because he seldom goes at any great speed, 

 and there is comparatively little variation in the 

 quantity of air required ; but in other horses the 

 variations are often extraordinary. The quantity 

 of air expended in a gallop is many times that 

 required in hard work. Here we must have 

 depth of chest, not only as giving more room for 

 the insertion of the muscles on the action of 

 which the expansion of the chest depends, but a 

 conformation of the chest which admits of that 

 expansion. The loins should be broad, the quar- 

 ters long, the thighs muscular, and the hocks 

 well bent and well under the horse. 



The zebra, 1, is one of the most 



534. 



beautiful quadrupeds, uniting to 

 the grace of the horse, and swift* 



