170 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



pendulum, it is also more likely to produce a 

 speedy action. 



*' As to heiofht, Admiral Rous's greneralisation that 

 horses have increased an inch every twenty-five 

 years since the eighteenth century will stand the 

 test of experience and research ; and it remains 

 to be seen whether the further prophecy of 

 Captain Hayes, that the limit height is 16*3, will 

 prove to be correct. All we know now is that 

 small horses usually last a distance better than 

 big ones ; that most of the flyers for a mile have 

 been big ones, with plenty of heart room ; and 

 that, other things being equal, a good big one 

 will beat a good little one, as The Bard (i5'i) 

 found to his cost. It is also true that our fields 

 nowadays run to a much greater average of height 

 than they ever did when Sampson (i5'2) was 

 considered a giant by the connoisseurs of 1745. 

 One hundred and fifty years afterwards Zinfandel 

 was a whole hand taller, though his measurement 

 round the leg, below the knee, was exactly the 

 same as Sampson's. 



"One feature in which the skeleton of Per- 

 simmon differs markedly from that of Eclipse is 

 the much greater height of the spines of the 

 vertebrae at the withers, of which the fifth 

 dorsal forms the summit of an arch. The bow 

 withers and high croup of Eclipse formed, in- 



