THE HEAD AS A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT 99 



PEOPORTIONS OF HEIGHT TO LENGTH 



What is the most desirable relation in the proportions of height to 

 length is a matter upon which opinions may differ, but it is held by those 

 who have thoroughly studied the question that the most perfect conforma- 

 tion will be found where the dimensions of the one most nearly approximate 

 to those of the other. Here it should be pointed out that the so-called 

 "long low" horse so much admired by connoisseurs is not, as it seems to be, 

 so much greater in length than height, but owes the apparent discrepancy 

 of proportion in these dimensions to the fact that he stands on shorter legs, 

 and is consequently nearer the ground. In this way he is made to look 

 low, but the greater depth of body which such animals usually possess add 

 materially to their height. 



"Any considerable excess of height over length is always a serious 

 defect of conformation. Animals so constructed are mostly narrow, defi- 

 cient in muscle, light of bone, and slow in their paces; they are liable to 

 brush and to forge, and soon become fatigued under exei'tion. Not less 

 objection al)le is the animal whose height falls appreciably short of his 

 length, when that length is of the classic measure of two heads and a 

 half. In this case the disproportion will impart to the machine a heavy 

 cumbrous aspect. Moreover, there will be a distinct lack of liberty, range, 

 and grace in the movements, and his shorter limbs will preclude the pos- 

 sibility of any considerable pace." In further discussing this subject 

 Goubaux and Barrier observe: "Many persons imagine that fast horses, 

 trotters and others, are longer than they are high, and they assign to the 

 length a quarter of a head, or even a third more, than to the height, 

 a suggestion which is in direct opposition to the reality. . . . Our 

 measurements upon the handsomest running horses, steeple-chasers, OrlofF 

 trotters, Anglo-Norman and Arabian, Barb, Andalusian, some Hungarian 

 and American horses, enable us to affirm that the excess in length, scarcely 

 amounting to 1, 2, 4, or 5 centimetres, is the exception, the equality or 

 excess in height permitting variations of the same value being the rule." 

 In the heavier breeds of horses excess of length over height is both more 

 frequent and considerable than in the lighter varieties, but in the most 

 approved specimens of the former the disparity is least and less frequently 

 in evidence. 



THE HEAD AS A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT 



Ever since the days of Bourgelat the study of proportions in respect to 

 the various regions of the horse has been more or less vigorously pursued. 



