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History of American Thoroughbred Thlrtyciglitli Installment InstallmentTh Th present installment brinss to a close the publication in serial form of Frank Foresters The Horse in America This fascinating story of early racing1 and breeding in the United States has laid the groundwork of present day developments on the turf and Dsily Racing Form plans to begin the publication soon of a continuation of this story from the pen of one of Americas leading authorities on turf sub ¬ jects jectsThe The chest itself should be well developed but not too wide and deep no horse can go a distance without a fair bellows room but supposing the heart to be sound and of good quality the amount of lung will suffice which may be contained in a medium sized chest and all above that is wasted and is extra weight Many of our best winded horses have had medium sized chests and some of the very worst have been furnished with room enough for a pair of blacksmiths bellows to play in If the heart only does its duty well the lungs can always furnish sufficient air and we know that when frequently renewed and with sufficient power the blood is aerated as fast as it is propelled and the chief dif ¬ ficulty lies in this power of propulsion which resides in the heart alone If the chest be too wide it materially affects the action of the forelegs and therefore in every point of view theoretically and practically there is a happy medium between the too great contraction in this department and the heavy wide lumbering chests sometimes seen even in the thoroughbred race horse especially when reared upon rich succulent nurbagc more fitted for the bullock than the eastern horse horseFOKMATIOX FOKMATIOX OF THE HIPS HIPSIn In the formation of the hips the essential point is length and breadth of bone for muscular attachment and it matters little whether the croup droops a little or is pretty straight and level so that there is a good length from the hip to the haunch bone the line between which two points may cither be nearly horizontal or forming a consider ¬ able angle with the ground but still in both cases it should be a long line and the lower it is the more muscular substance is attached to it and the greater leverage will the mus ¬ cles have All these points are still further explained in the anatomy of the horse which see for details of those parts partsThe The forequarter consisting of the shoul ¬ der upper and lower arm and leg and foot should be well set on to the chest and the shoulder blade should lie obliquely on the side of that part with a full development of muscle to move it and thrust it well for ¬ ward in the gallop Obliquity is of the great ¬ est importance acting as a spring in taking off the shock of the gallop or leap and also giving a longer attachment to the muscles nnd in addition enabling them to act with more leverage upon the arm and leg legIt It will be seen by a reference to the skele ¬ ton that the shoulder blade does not reach the top of the withers and that those bones forming that part have nothing to do with the shoulder itself hence many high with ¬ ered horses have had bad and weak shoulders and some very upright ones whilst on the other hand many low withered horses have very oblique and powerful shoulders and such ns to give great facility and pliability to the fore extremity The shoulder should be very muscular without being overdone or loaded and so formed as to play freely in the action of the horse The joint of the shoulder which is the joint corresponding to the human shoulder should be free from raggedness but not too fiat a certain degree of development of the bony parts is desirable buc more than this leads to defect and impedes the action of this important part The upper arm be ¬ tween this joint nnd the elbow should be long and well clothed with muscles the el ¬ bow section quite straight and not tied into the chest the lower arm muscular and long knees broad and strong with the bony pro ¬ jection behind well developed legs flat and showing a suspensory ligament large and free pasterns long enough without being weak and the feet sound and neither too large nor too small and unattended with any degree of contraction which is the bane of the thoroughbred horse horseHIND HIND QUARTER IS IMPORTANT IMPORTANTThe The hind quarter is the chief agent in pro ¬ pulsion and is therefore of the utmost con ¬ sequence in attaining speed It is often as ¬ serted that the oblique shoulder is the grand requisite in this object and that it Is the part upon which speed mainly depends and in which it may be said to reside This is to some extent true because there can be no doubt that with a loaded shoulder high speed is impracticable for however powerful the body may be propelled yet when the fore quarter touches the ground it does not bound oft again as smartly as it ought to do and the pace is consequently slow This po ¬ sition may be illustrated by an experiment with two balls one of india rubber and the other of corresponding size and weight made of any inelastic material such as wax Now suppose these two balls propelled with equal power along a piece of fine turf at such an angle as to strike its surface and rebound again and again the elastic ball would at first only equal the other in speed but it would soon outstrip it because its elasticity would carry on the original pro ¬ pelling power while the dull inelastic nature of the wax ball would speedily cause it to adhere to its mother earth Just so with the elastic shoulder shoulderIt It receives the resistance of the earth but reacts upon it and loses very little of the power given by the stroke of the hind quarter which nevertheless must be strong shouldered to receive and transmit For the full action of the hind quarters two things arc necessary viz length and volume of muscle and secondly length of leverage upon which that muscle may act Hence all the bones comprising the hind quarter must vary a good deal in order that the parts upon which the muscles lie may be long rather than those connected with the ten ¬ dons which arc mere ropes and have no propelling power residing in them but trans ¬ mit that which they derive from the mus ¬ cles themselves themselvesHIPS HIPS SIIOULD BE LONG AND WIDE WIDEThus Thus the hips should be long and wide and the two upper divisions of the limbs viz the stifle and lower thigh should be long strong and fully developed By this formation the stille joint is brought well for ¬ ward and there is a considerable angle be ¬ tween these two divisions The hock should always be bony and strong free from gum or spavin and the point long and so set as to be free from weakness at the situation of curb curbIn In examining the hind quarter to judge of Its muscular development the horse should not be looked at sideways but its tail should be raised and it should be ascertained that the muscles of the two limbs meet together below the anus which should be in fact well supported by them and not left loose and as it were in a deep and flaccid hollow The outline of the outer part of the thigh should be full and In ordinary horses the muscle should swell out beyond the level of the point of the hip This fullness however is not often seen to this extent in the thoroughbred liorse until he has arrived at mature age and is taken out of training The bones be ¬ low the hock should be flat and free from adhesions the ligaments and tendons fully developed and standing out free from the bone and the joints well formed and wide yet without any diseased enlargement the pasterns should be moderately long and oblique the bones of good size and lastly the feet should correspond with those already alluded to in the anterior extremity extremityIMPORTANCE IMPORTANCE OF TRUE FORMATION FORMATIONThe The totality of these points should be in proportion to one another that is to say the formation of the horse should be true He should not have long welldeveloped hind ¬ quarters with an upright weak or confined fore quarter Nor will the converse serve for however well formed the shoulder may be the horse will not go well unless he has a similar formation in the propellers It is of great importance therefore that the race horse should have all his various points in true relative development and that there shall not be the hind quarter of a long rac ¬ inglike horse with the thick confined shoul ¬ der which would suit a stride less reaching in its nature natureThe The color of the thoroughbred horse is now generally bay brown or chestnut one or other of which will occur in ninetynine cases out of a hundred Gray is not com ¬ mon but sometimes appears as in the case of Chanticleer and some of his stock Black also occasionally makes its appearance but not more frequently than gray Roans j duns sorrels etc are now quite exploded and the above five other colors may be said to complete the list of colors seen on the race course courseSometimes Sometimes these colors are mixed with a good deal of white in the shape of blazes on onic ic face cr white legs and feet or even ioth may occur and the horse may have little more than his body of a brown bay or chestnut Most people however prefer the selfcolor with as little white as possible and nothing but the great success of a horses stock would induce breeders to re ¬ sort to him if they were largely endowed with white Gray hairs mixed in the coat as in the Venisons are rather approved of oflan lan otherwise but they do not amount to a roan in which the gray hairs equal or even more than that the other color mixed with them themTEXTURE TEXTURE PROOF OF BREEDING BREEDINGThe The texture of the coat and skin is a great proof of high breeding and in the absence of the pedigree would be highly regarded but when that is satisfactory it is of no use descending to the examination of an interior iroof and therefore except as a sign of icalth the skin is seldom considered In all thoroughbred horses however it is thinner and the hair more silky than in common breeds and the veins are more apparent under the skin partly from its thinness but also from their extra size and number of branches branchesThis This network of veins is of importance in allowing the circulation to be carried on during high exertions when if the blood could not accumulate in them it would often choke the deep vessels of the heart and iungs ut by collecting on the surface great relief is afforded and the horse is able to maintain such a high and longcontiiiued speed as would be impracticable without their help Hence these points are not useful as a mere mark of breed but as essential to the purpose for which that breed was established The mane and tail should be silky and not curly though a slight wave is often seen A decided curl is almost universally a mark of degradation and shows a stain in the pedi ¬ gree as clearly as any sign can do Here however as in other cases the clear tracing of that allpowerful proof of breeding will upset all reasoning founded upon inferior data The setting on of the tail is often regarded as of great importance but it is chiefly with reference to appearances for the horse is not dependent for action or power upon this appendage Nor is strength of dock any value as a sign and I have known many very stout horses with flaccid and loosely pendant tails tailsBetween Between the form of West Australian and that of a common country plate horse there is a wide difference and scarcely any weight will bring them together short of that which would crush the former to the earth There are numberless cases in which fifty pounds might be carried by a firstclass horse over and above the feather weight placed on a slow horse and yet the horse in high form will run away from the plater which cannot by any means get over the ground faster than the rate at which he can carry weightAn a fair average weight An examination of handicap lists 1857 will show that between their top and bottom there is generally a difference of fifty or seventy pounds and though this difference is often effectual in keeping back the best horses it does not always allow the lightest weights to win but rather those which are the lightest as compared with their real powers But it is also known that certain horses can run half a mile at high speed but no more others a mile others again a mile and a halt or two miles while another class less common about the middle of the nineteenth century than formerly required a distance of three or four miles to de ¬ velop their powers as compared with or ¬ dinary horses horsesThese These peculiarities are generally heredi ¬ tary though not always so but still when the blood is known it may generally be sur ¬ mised that the individual will or will not stay a distance When the cross in question is stout on one side and flashy on the other it is not easy to guess to which the young scion may lean but in those cases where a horse is bred from sires and dams botli of stout blood or the reverse the experienced hand may in almost all cases decide before ¬ hand upon the properties of the son or daughter as far as staying qualities are concerned concernedAgain Again there are some horses of strong compact frames with short backs and strong quarters which may be expected to climb a hill without difficulty especially if of stout blood and again there are others of lathy frames with long but weak points and a great deal of daylight under them which may win over the flat for a mile or a mile and a quarter but can never climb a hill I or go beyond the above distance over a flat All these points should be carefully studied by the breeder in gathering his breeding stock and by the owner in deciding upon the stakes for which he shall enter his young produce
