Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-06

POINTS IN ANATOaY BY ADIRONDACK
MURRAY.


MURRAY.
Rev. w. III. Murray, The noted editor aud
d lver of fast trotters, says:
TIE nrst Thing To observe in judging of a
hor e, so far as his back Is concerned, is The
length of 1t. long back il q = eak back the
We. ld over. and N every instance. BY supa-
RIO exc Hence OF structure In other res pecCs,
The weakness OF the back may be, 4 a so ~
meas ure, made up; but the horse can never
be the hOrse he would have been had hi
back been shorter one. Wedo not care how
short a horses back Is, for IL is q sure eyI-
dence that he can carry or drag a heavy
weight a great distance and not tire; neither
II he be speedy, will two or three seasons OF
turf experience break him down A. is The
case with % many of our speedy long backed
horses.
Old Morrill, and Flora Tenn pie are instances
In the past; and the famous grandson OF old
Morrill,, Fearu sught, AMI Taygart's Abial-
lab, are good illustrations among later horses
This conformation OF the back was, in our
opinion, u grave objection against young
Morrill, and Rysdyk's Handle oman. In
spite OF all Their eXcellences. both of them
would have been decidedly better horst S had
the! oetn coupled shorter and more strongly
on the back Ii Young Morrill, had had the
back of his slre-one of the most marvellous
spec mems of perfect bone structure and mus
cular power ever ored-he would never have
gotten 80 many sway ed backed colts as now
5 and 10 his charge.
The same was the case In even greater
measure with Rysdy ks HANDLE onian. We
know what he did in the stud. We know
that crossed on mares of certain pattern
sDd blood, especially on the daughters of
Amefi, All Star, the son of the great Henry
ne gave us Uroiters Of The highest speed aud
s. copd to none in endurance But all This
WAS true in spite ofhis back, not because of
II; and where he sired one colt closely aud
strongly coupled up In the back and Ioins (aS
every colt should be) he sent forth a We or ten
without ms admirable construction, nay
repre- sentatives of the other form
one may attend the fairs Of the country,
ana els Ut out of every ten of the HANDLE
tonlan stations exhibited will present 10 the
eye This unfor innate peculiarly. In reply IL
", VIII be urged that these long backed horses
they DO stride great distance; bat we also
notice thai their ieer stay under the sulky a
long me. The power 10 'twi' Gu their feet
out from IN Ter the wagon" "a an old driver
once expressed IL, does not belong Jo them.
one never n DIS Ii IN connection with long
hacR. We wish To breed colts with an enor-
nous stride" as earnestly as any one; but
we wish that these colts blessed with an
enormous stride should have. the kuack
also OF gathering quickly.
But, III respect To the length of stride, We
ave This 10 say-tbat it H. not in any way the
result of The length OF the back, bat II post
Ton IL The Pasierns, the slope Of the shOuld-
eTs. aud the position of the great bones of inc
hIi legs. There must toe IL. GIN somewhere,
al course, or Use tie horse canuot stride far;
or, If ne attempts IL, he Will he forever rover
reaching - or forging" as tue phrase goes
But where should the length b.. loo Ltei? tn 1t
II The question; and We say the lengtn sh lulI
be lCchred below, ard not above rhe Iepgth
AiUulu 1v put III between the shoulder iltnt
and the hams of the horse
1heIe ls where II was put i'm Flora Temple,
al q which gave her such a tremeld puS stride
fer so small an animal; AID, there. too. il
where you iii d IL in Dexter FearuSu zht and
Jaggarps A bdallsh, whose stride ON a sandy
track we have measured, and found to be 20
ieeI! If that Is rot an enormous stride"
enough 10 satisfy any one, we should be
pleased 10 know what is; and yet Ab la lah
han a short, muscular, Morgan like back,
and ms sire, Farmers Beauty, and his grand
sire, Clifford MDrkan, hal before him.
There never was falSer theory, or one
calculated TO beget more mischief among
breeders than thIs-that we must breed long
backed colts in order to get length of stride.
We have always noticed that the horses long
ia the back and loosely coupled at the hips
are the bOrses that al ways come to the Judges
stand padded aud swathrd with "pods" and
shields" and projectors enough to stock
u small sized horse clothing establishment.
The reason is, because there is too little
strength il IN e back and loins 10 deliver their
strokes in a straight line, or 10 ''cttch"
quickly and handily when they break" 1t
Is at such Ilule-the supreme hour Of the
animals life, perhaps-when fame and
money hang evenly in The balance, and ten
thousand eyes are watching him, and the
horse Is gong at the top of his speed, tn At
formation and perfection OF organic strlc-
tue tell