705 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



PROPORTIONS OF THE HORSE. 



BouRGELAT, Merche, Duhousset, Goubaux, Barrier, and 

 other writers on Conformation have laid down certain pro- 

 portions for an ideal horse, which, unfortunately, does not 

 exist as a distinctive type. Failing to draw sufficient 

 attention to the great difference of shape between horses of 

 speed and those of strength, the comparisons which they 

 have instituted between the dimensions of the limbs and 

 those of the head and body are wholly arbitrary. Al- 

 though the respective proportions of the head and body 

 are nearly the same in all classes of horses, the length' 

 of the neck and limbs varies according to the work for 

 which the muscles of these parts are best suited. Hence, 

 the only proportions of the horse which are fixed within 

 narrow limits are those of the head and body. We may 

 sum up the most evident ones as follows : — 



Proportions Common to all Classes of Horses* 



The >iieasurements here given have reference to Fig. 646. 

 (i) Length of body {a b) = 2^ to 2f times length of head (/(• /). 



(2) Height of withers {c d) = height at croup (/ g). 



(3) Length of head {h I) — depth of body at lowest part of back (h i). 



(4) Length of head= distance of " swell " of muscle at posterior angle 



of shoulder-blade to point of hip {s t). 



(5) Distance {k p) of top of head to corner of mouth = distance from 



point of hip to point of buttock (/ u). 



(6) Width of head (w ;/) = \ length of head k I). 



That careful observer, Colonel Duhousset, states that 



(7) Length of head = distance of point of shoulder to top of withers. 



45 



