THE EQUID.E IN GENERAL. 187 



of the feet being lodged in a single round hoof; they 

 have all more or less mane on the neck ; the whole of 

 their structure is remarkably strong and well ba- 

 lanced, being in height at the shoulder and croup 

 about equal to the length from the breast to the but- 

 tock, and the head and neck comparatively lighter 

 in proportion than in animals that bear horns; hence, 

 above all other quadrupeds, the horse is the most sym- 

 metrical for his stature ; the fleetest, the strongest, 

 and the most enduring; for, considering that his 

 speed is always reckoned with the additional weight 

 of a rider, that velocity which gives near a mile in 

 a minute, and four miles in about six minutes and 

 a half, * has been calculated to be at the rate of 

 eighty-two feet and a half per second ; exceeding 

 what a vigorous stag or the fleetest greyhound can 

 achieve unencumbered by any extraneous weight. 

 Such speed, with the powers of endurance, is surely 

 superior to every other quadruped; for while we 

 know what effect the difference of one or two pounds 

 weight produces on the velocity of the pace of racers, 

 horses will carry heavy riders and keep up with a 

 running ostrich, overtake a stag, and toil at a gal- 

 lop in the withering sun of the desert, over sixty 

 or eighty miles without drawing bit. It is to the 

 elasticity and form of structure, to the inclination 

 of the shoulder, the width of the trunk giving play 

 to the lungs, the breadth of the quarters, the vigour 

 of the fore-arm, the consolidation of the feet into 

 one hoof, and the lightness of the head and neck, 

 * Achieved by " Flying Childers." 



