174 COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES. 



clothed as they are with skin and muscle. In adopting 

 the more convenient method of the two, due allowance 

 should be made for the attitude in which the horse places 

 himself. 



The conditions under which the limbs play their part 

 in locomotion, are so complex and varied, that rules can be 

 laid down on this subject, only in very general terms. 

 We must also bear in mind that there is a certain limit 

 of height (largely influenced by breed) which a horse 

 should not exceed, and which will be discussed on page 

 1 80, et seq. The present question may be put as follows : 

 at any given height, is it an advantage for a horse to 

 be higher at the withers than he is over the top of the 

 croup, or vice versa, when he is intended for galloping, 

 jumping, hght harness, or heavy draught ; and to what 

 extent may such difference, if any, amount to ? It is 

 evident that the longer the hind legs, the greater — other 

 things being equal — will be the speed of propulsion. 

 Excess of height at the croup will, however, be accom- 

 panied by three serious drawbacks : (i) by putting 

 increased work, durmg fast paces, on the fore hmbs 

 and on the muscles of the back and loins (p. 67) in raising 

 the fore-hand at each stride, it will diminish the animal's 

 stajdng power ; (2) by surcharging the fore legs (p. 53), 

 it will naturally tend to render these limbs more hable 

 to the injurious effects of work than they would be, were 

 the weight more equally distributed between the fore 

 and hind extremities ; and (3) by overloading the fore- 

 hand, it will tend to prevent the cross-country horse 

 rising easily at his fences and getting away safely from 

 them on landing. Those speedy animals, the cheetah, the 

 Indian black buck, and the greyhound, are a little longer 

 in the hind limb than they are in front. As a rule, race- 

 horses of the highest class are about the same height at 

 withers and croup. This difference between the racer 

 and the other gallopers may be accounted for by the fact 

 that the proportion of weight which the fore limbs of the 



