CONFORMATION AND ACTION 275 



of the hock to the lower level of the hoof; (5) 

 from the shoulder blades to the point of the 

 haunch. Two and a half times the length of the 

 head gives: (1) the height of the withers and the 

 height of the croup above the ground, 

 and (2) very nearly the length from the 

 point of the shoulder to the extreme of the 

 buttock. " 



The tape-measure test is all very well, but if a 

 man does not have an eye for a horse he will 

 never be able to select a good one by mathe- 

 matics. And an eye for a horse is a singular en- 

 dowment. I have known men of proved intellec- 

 tuality quite incapable of learning about horses. 

 Also I have known men who, in the ordinary af- 

 fairs of life were very fools but who knew good 

 horses by a kind of instinct. The man with an eye 

 for a horse takes the whole animal in at a glance ; 

 his .minute examination, in nine cases out of ten 

 only confirms his instant judgment. When I am 

 buying a horse I do not need to hesitate very long. 

 I have inspected and bought as many as twenty 

 in a day, giving not more than fifteen or twenty 

 minutes to each horse. Yet these purchases in the 



