Section II 

 COXFORMATIOX A:ND ITS DEFECTS 



There are few Englishmen who possess, or have possessed, a horse, who 

 do not aspire to know something about conformation and its mechanical 

 relations to jjace, action, and power, although few would claim to have 

 the most elementary acquaintance with those divisions of science on which 

 an exact knowledge of the subject depends. Anatomy, physiology, 

 mechanics, and physics form but a small part of the intellectual equip- 

 ment of the average judge, and yet it is doubtful if the 2>i'<'nd possessor 

 •of these higher branches of learning would excel in precision of judgment 

 his less gifted confrere. 



Dealers and Breeders, and those who adjudicate at our horse exhibitions, 

 have little more than the empirical faculty to guide them, yet they are 

 among the most expert in the world — recognizing at a glance not only 

 the grosser faults and weaknesses of form and action, but refinements 

 of distinction and aptitude to service which only the practised eye can 

 discern. Granting, however, the power to acquire this high standard of 

 excellence by purely empirical means, it will not be suggested that the 

 goal of perfection in horse judging has yet been attained, or that the 

 facility of attainment will not be enhanced by a consideration of those 

 departments of science already referred to. If by external conformation 

 we are to appraise the value of a horse, it must be by estimating with 

 more or less precision his physical capabilities and endurance as an 

 animal machine, and to this end routine observation and practical 

 judgment might with advantage be supplemented by the teachings of 

 science. 



To all persons concerned with the breeding and employment of tlie 

 horse as a means of locomotion, a knowledoe of conformation and its 

 defects is indispensable to success as a commercial entei'prise, and notwith- 

 standing the purely empirical form which that c[ualification assumes 

 to-day, in those who possess it, the time is not far distant when the 

 exterior of the horse will come to be interpreted by the light of a more 



