Page:Hints to Horse-keepers.djvu/35

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CHOICE OF THE MARE.
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breeding purposes, and yet which is sometimes carefully selected, because it is considered elegant; this is the level and straight hip, in which the tail is set on very high, and the end of the haunch bone is nearly on a level with the projection of the hip bone. Nearly the opposite form is the more desirable, where, on examining the pelvis, it will be seen that the haunch bone forms a considerable angle with the sacrum, and that there is, as a consequence, plenty of room, not only for carrying the foal, but for allowing it to pass into the world. Both of these points are important, the former evidently so, and the latter no less so on consideration; because, if the foal is injured in the birth, either of necessity or from ignorance, it will often fail to recover its powers, and will remain permanently injured. The pelvis, then, should be wide and deep,—that is to say, large and roomy; and there should also be a little more than the average length, from hip to the shoulder, so as to give plenty of bed for the foal, as well as a good depth of back ribs, which are necessary to give the strength to support this increased length. This gives to the whole frame-work of the trunk a larger proportion than is always desirable in the race-horse, which is easily overtopped in race-horses,"—that is to say, they may easily have more body than their legs can properly carry,—"and hence many good runners have failed as brood mares, while a great number of bad runners have been dams of good horses. Beyond this roomy frame, necessary as the egg-shell of the foal, the mare only requires such a shape and make as is well adapted for the purpose she is intended for," that is to say, for producing colts of the style and form she is intended to produce. We will add, that she must have four good legs under her, and those legs standing as a foundation on four good, well-shaped, large feet, open-heeled, and by no means flat-soled. That she should have a good,