12 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



back to his stall with "That will do, 

 thank you," after a single performance. 



HORSE, Proportions of the Various 

 Points. — The proportions of the compo- 

 nent parts of the horse, as we have 

 already remarked, vary a good deal in 

 the different breeds. The following, how- 



ever, may be taken as the most perfect; 

 but they refer especially to the racer, 

 hunter and hack, as well as to the lighter 

 and more blood-like harness horses, and 

 must not be strictly applied to the draught- 

 horse in any of his varieties : 



Fig. 2. 



Inches. 



- 63 



- 66 



"Height at withers and croup, - - 

 length from shoulder-point to quarter, 

 From the lowest part of the chest to the 



ground, --. 36 



•From the elbow -point to the ground, - - 39 

 From the withers to the pole, just behind 



the ears, in a straight line, - - - - 30 

 ' The same measured along the crest, - - 32 

 Length of head, 22 



Width across the forehead, 



From the withers to the hip, - - - - 

 From the stifle to the point of the hock, in 

 the attitude shown in the plan, - - 

 From the root of tail to stifle-joint, - - 

 From the point of the hock to the ground, 

 Length of arm from the elbow to the pisi- 

 form-bone, ---• 



From the pisiform-bone to the ground, - 



Inches. 



- 9# 



- 22 



28 

 26 



22^ 



«9# 

 *9 l A 



Girth varies from 76 to 79. 



Circumference of fore cannon-bone, 1%, 8, 8, 8, %%, and 9 inches. 



Circumference of arm just below the elbow, 16^ to 18 inches. 



This scale is drawn in inches, and, in 

 'the outline, the horse is supposed to be 

 fifteen hands three inches, or sixty-three 

 inches high. The measurements are the 

 average of those carefully taken from six 

 horses considered to be perfect of sym- 

 metry. Two of these were celebrated 

 stallions, two thoroughbred hunters, and 

 two chargers of great value. 



The scale which we have given differs 

 in many particulars, though only slightly, 

 from that which is usually found in treat- 

 ises on the horse ; but we have preferred 



trusting to nature herself rather than to 

 the observations of previous writers, which 

 may be consulted by the reader at any 

 time. 



HORSE, Maturity.— The horse com- 

 pletes his dentition at five years old, when 

 he may be said to be mature. At eight 

 or nine years the lower teeth lose their 

 marks or black concavities, after which 

 there is no reliable evidence of age, 

 which can, however, be tolerably accu- 

 rately guessed at from the length of the 

 front teeth or nippers, and from the gen- 



