Behind, the horse should have long and wide hips, with no appearance of raggedness, the stifle and thigh strong and long, and the hind quarters well let down, and not turned in nor turned out. The hind feet should be under the end of the croup, and the hocks and fetlocks should be a little back of a line dropped from the buttocks. The hock should have plenty of bone, be neatly outlined, wide, and thick. The bones below the hock should be flat, the tendons well developed and standing out from the bone, the feet and pasterns as in front.
The dock of the tail should be large and strong. Muscular development there, means proportionate strength all along the spine. The tail should be set on high, and be carried firmly and away from the quarters. A fat, awkward tail is a mark of poor breeding. The tail of the well-bred horse usually tapers off toward the end.
As a well-known Continental breaker and trainer of horses phrases it: "I like a handsome head, long and light neck, prominent withers, short and strong back and loins, long croup, long and oblique shoulders, close coupling between the point of the hip and the last rib, hocks well let down, short cannon-bones, long forearms, and the pasterns fairly long. A horse should be close to the ground, which he will be when the distance from the brisket to the ground will be equal to that from the withers to the brisket. A horse which is high off the ground is generally clumsy in his movements and liable to stumble." An old-time writer on the subject of the horse claims that a good horse should have: three qualities of a woman,—a broad breast, round hips, and a long mane; three of a lion,—countenance, courage, and fire; three of a bullock,—the eye, the nostrils, and the joints; three of a sheep,—the nose, gentleness, and patience; three of a mule,—strength, constancy, and foot; three of a deer,—head, legs, and short hair; three of a wolf,—throat, neck, and hearing; three of a fox,—ear, tail, and trot; three of a serpent,—memory, sight, and turning; and three of a hare or cat,—running, walking, and suppleness.
PLATE IX.—HARNESS TYPE
PLATE X.—FLYING CLOUD, HARNESS TYPE