A fairly large crest and fairly small ears
give the more characteristic shape to a horse’s head.
High withers offer the rider a safer seat and
a stronger grip on the shoulders.
The double backThat was before the days of saddles, and horsemen had a
tender interest in the double back—the characteristic back of dappled
horses.
—Pocock, Horses, p. 118. Duplex agitur per
lumbos spina,
says Virgil
Georg. 3.87. is both softer to sit on than the
single and more pleasing to the eye.
The deeper the flanks and the more swelling
toward the belly, the firmer is the seat and the stronger, and as a rule,
the better feeder is the horse.
The broader and shorter the loins, the more
easily the horse lifts his fore quarters and the more easily he brings up
his hind quarters. And, apart from that, the belly looks smallest so, and if
it is big it disfigures the horse to some extent, and also makes him to some
extent both weaker and clumsier.
The haunches must be broad and fleshy, that
they may be in right proportion to the flanks and chest, and if they are
firm all over, they will be lighter for running and will make the horse
speedier.
If the gap that separates the hams under the
tail is broad,He must not be cat-hammed
(Berenger), which means that the hocks will be turned inwards. Such
horses are often good trotters (Blane), but the Greek cavalry rider did
not require that. he will also extend his hind legs well apart
under his belly; and by doing that he will be more fiery and stronger when
he throws himself on his haunches and when he is ridden, and will make the
best of himself in all ways. One can infer this from the action of a man:
for when he wants to lift anything from the ground, a man invariably tries
to lift it with his legs apart rather than close together.
A horse’s stones should not be big: but it is
impossible to observe this in a colt.
As for the parts below, the hocks, shin bones,
fetlocks and hoofs, what we have said about the corresponding parts in the
forelegs applies to these also.
I want also to explain how one is least likely
to be disappointed in the matter of size. The colt that is longest in the
shanks at the time he is foaled makes the biggest horse.For his stature this is an infallible rule that the
shinne bone...never increaseth, no not from the first foaling...insomuch
that if those bones be long and large, we are ever assured that the
Foale will prove a tall and large Horse.
G. Markham,
Cavalerice,
1617. For in all quadrupeds the shanks
increase but little in size as time goes on, whereas the rest of the body
grows to them, so as to be in the right proportion.
He who applies these tests to a colt’s shape
is sure, in my opinion, to get a beast with good feet, strong, muscular, of
the right look and the right size. If some change as they grow, still we may
confidently rely on these tests, for it is far commoner for an ugly colt to
make a useful horse than for a colt like this to turn out ugly.
We do not think it necessary to give
directionsOr, perhaps, to give many
directions. Something is lost in the MSS., in which the μὴ (added by Courier) does not
appear. for breaking a colt. For in our states the cavalry are
recruited from those who have ample means and take a considerable part in
the government. And it is far better for a young man to get himself into
condition and when he understands the art of horsemanship to practise riding
than to be a horse-breaker; and an older man had far better devote himself
to his estate and his friends and affairs of state and of war than spend his
time in horse-breaking.
So he who shares my opinion about horse-breaking will, of course, send his
colt out. Still he should put in writing what the horse is to know when he
is returned, just as when he apprentices his son to a profession. For these
articles will serve as notes to remind the horse-breaker of what he must
attend to if he is to get his money.
Still, care must be taken that the colt is
gentle, tractable, and fond of man when he is sent to the horse-breaker.
That sort of business is generally done at home through the groom, if he
knows how to contrive that hunger and thirst and horseflies are associated
by the colt with solitude, while eating and drinking and delivery from
irritation come through man’s agency. For in these circumstances a foal is
bound not only to like men, but to hanker after them.
One should also handle those parts in which the horse likes most to be
cherished, that is to say the hairiest parts and those where the horse has
least power of helping himself, if anything worries him.
Let the groom be under orders also to lead him through crowds, and accustom
him to all sorts of sights and all sorts of noises. If the colt shies at any
of them, he must teach him, by quieting him and without impatience, that
there is nothing to be afraid of.
I think that the directions I have given on
the subject of horse-breaking are sufficient for the private person.