Rl'kal School Leaflet, 



6/3 



Every farm boy, and every girl, too, for that matter, should know 

 what characters constitute a good horse, — what makes a horse wanting in 

 form, what makes it desirable. The organs of animals when studied in 

 detail exhibit dimensions of length, breadth, thickness, and direction. 

 It is, in part, on account of these general relations., or proportions, that we 

 distinguish, at first sight, a horse from a zebra. These proportions may 

 be good or bad. If good, the animal is said to be well formed or has a 

 handsome form ; whereas if bad, he is said to be wanting in form, or not 

 beautiful. 



Fig. 14. — Skeleton of a horse showing frame-work to zvhich are attached the 



tendons, cartilages and muscles. 



In a study of these relationships or proportions, we must take some 

 organ as a unit or standard of measurement. The head of the horse is 

 the part most used for this purpose, because it is the most noticeable, its 

 length is easily obtained, and variations are more care than in other 

 organs or parts. 



If we take the total length of the horse's head, from the tip of the lips 

 to the top of the poll, and compare it with the body of a well-formed 

 horse, we will find that there are four other measurements almost exactly 

 equal to it as follows : 



(i) The length of the neck, from the top of the withers to the 

 poll. If there is much difiference between these measurements, we 

 say the head is too long or the neck is too short. 

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