1.5
The bones of the shanks should be thick,Wide would be a more suitable word. since these are the pillars of the body; but not thick with veins nor with flesh, else when the horse is ridden over hard ground, these parts are bound to become charged with blood and varicose; the legs will swell, and the skin will fall away, and when this gets loose the pin,The Greek word means the fibula in man, but the fibula, of course, is no part of the shank in the horse. Morgan rightly says that X. writes throughout of the horse as he appears outwardly, and not of the skeleton (with which he was unacquainted), and that the allusion is to the back sinew of the shin. too, is apt to give way and lame the horse.
1.6
If the colt’s knees are supple when bending as he walks, you may guess that his legs will be supple when he is ridden too, for all horses acquire greater suppleness at the knee as time goes on. Supple knees are rightly approved, since they render the horse less likely to stumble and tire than stiff legs.
1.7
The arms below the shoulders,The forearm, not the true arm, which X. includes in the chest. as in man, are stronger and better looking if they are thick.
1.7
A chest of some width is better formed both for appearance and for strength, and for carrying the legs well apart without crossing.
1.8
His neck should not hang downwards from the chest like a boar’s, but stand straight up to the crest, like a cock’s;The horse should not be cock-throttled. but it should be flexible at the bend; and the head should be bony, with a small cheek. Thus the neck will protect the rider, and the eye see what lies before the feet.He will not be a star-gazer. Besides, a horse of such a mould will have least power of running away, be he never so high-spirited, for horses do not arch the neck and head, but stretch them out when they try to run away.
1.9
You should notice, too, whether both jaws are soft or hard, or only one; for horses with unequal jaws are generally unequally sensitive in the mouth.
