[15] Lit. "all horses bend their legs more flexibly as time advances."Coming to the thighs below the shoulder-blades,[16] or arms, these if thick and muscular present a stronger and handsomer appearance, just as in the case of a human being. Again, a comparatively broad chest is better alike for strength and beauty, and better adapted to carry the legs well asunder, so that they will not overlap and interfere with one another. Again, the neck should not be set on dropping forward from the chest, like a boar's, but, like that of a game-cock rather, it should shoot upwards to the crest, and be slack[17] along the curvature; whilst the head should be bony and the jawbone small. In this way the neck will be well in front of the rider, and the eye will command what lies before the horse's feet. A horse, moreover, of this build, however spirited, will be least capable of overmastering the rider,[18] since it is not by arching but by stretching out his neck and head that a horse endeavours to assert his power.[19]
[16] Lit. "the thighs below the shoulder-blades" are distinguished from "the thighs below the tail." They correspond respectively to our "arms" (i.e. forearms) and "gaskins," and anatomically speaking = the radius (os brachii) and the tibia.
[17] "Slack towards the flexure" (Stonehenge). [18] Or, "of forcing the rider's hand and bolting." [19] Or, "to display violence or run away."It is important also to observe whether the jaws are soft or hard on one or other side, since as a rule a horse with unequal jaws[20] is liable to become hard-mouthed on one side.
[20] Or, "whose bars are not equally sensitive."Again, a prominent rather than a sunken eye is suggestive of alertness,and a horse of this type will have a wider range of vision.
And so of the nostrils: a wide-dilated nostril is at once better than a contracted one for respiration, and gives the animal a fiercer aspect. Note how, for instance, when one stallion is enraged against another, or when his spirit chafes in being ridden,[21] the nostrils at once become dilated.
[21] Or, "in the racecourse or on the exercising-ground how readily he distends his nostrils."A comparatively large crest and small ears give a more typical and horse-like appearance to the head, whilst lofty withers again allow the rider a surer seat and a stronger adhesion between the shoulders and the body.[22]
[22] Or if with L. D. [{kai to somati}], transl. "adhesion to the horse's shoulders."A "double spine,"[23] again, is at once softer to sit on than a single, and more pleasing to the eye. So, too, a fairly deep side somewhat rounded towards the belly[24] will render the animal at once easier to sit and stronger, and as a general rule better able to digest his food.[25]
[23] Reading after Courier {rakhis ge men}. See Virg. "Georg." iii. 87, "at duplex agitur per lumbos spina." "In a horse that is in good case, the back is broad, and the spine does not stick up like a ridge, but forms a kind of furrow on the back" (John Martyn); "a full back," as we say.
[24] Or, "in proportion to." See Courier ("Du Commandement de la Cavalerie at de l'Equitation": deux livres de Xenophon, traduits par un officier d'artillerie a cheval), note ad loc. p. 83.
[25] i.e. "and keep in good condition."
