ving blow for blow, overuch
like anvil to hammer."

The bones of the shanks (12) ought to be thick, being as they are the
columns on which the body rests; thick in themselves, that is, not
puffed out with veins or flesh; or else in riding over hard ground they
will inevitably be surcharged with blood, and varicose conditions be set
up, (13) the legs becoming thick and puffy, whilst the skin recedes; and
with this loosening of the skin the back sinew (14) is very apt to start
and render the horse lame.

(12) i.e. "the metacarpals and metatarsals."

(13) Or, "and become varicose, with the result that the shanks swell
whilst the skin recedes from the bone."

(14) Or, "suspensory ligament"? Possibly Xenophon's anatomy is wrong,
and he mistook the back sinew for a bone like the fibula. The part
in question might intelligibly enough, if not technically, be
termed {perone}, being of the brooch-pin order.

If the young horse in walking bends his knees flexibly, you may safely
conjecture that when he comes to be ridden he will have flexible legs,
since the quality of suppleness invariably increases with age. (15)
Supple knees are highly esteemed and with good reason, rendering as
they do the horse less liable to stumble or break down from fatigue than
those of stiffer build.

(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 c