EUYING OR CHOOSING. 5 



Thus, while a cart horse is only fit for agricultu- 

 ral work, a racehorse or thoroughbred may be used 

 either as a steeplechaser, hunter, or hack, and may be 

 driven in harness, or worked on a farm. 



Similarly a horse bred exclusively for hunting 

 will make a good hack or carriage horse, but would 

 fail to be of much use as a racehorse ; hence we 

 arrive at the rule, that the better bred a horse is 

 (other quahties being equal), the more uses he can 

 be put to. 



If we take any particular horse of a well-bred 

 class we shall find that his value depends a good 

 deal on three things : his size, the amount of sym- 

 metry he possesses, that is his shape, and his tem- 

 per or disposition. There are other qualities — for 

 instance, beauty, action, and strength — but these are 

 more or less included in the first three. 



Thus, action depends on a horse's shape and dis- 

 position combined. Beauty depends a good deal on 

 symmetry, combined with colour ; and strength is 

 produced by a combination of size and symmetry. 

 I should here say that by the word size it must 

 not be understood that the height of a horse only is 

 meant : that is only one element of size — the size of 

 a horse, in the fullest sense, means a combination of 

 his length, height, and thickness ; that is, his length 

 from his head to his tail, his height from his shoulder- 

 point to the ground, and the width and depth of his 

 body. It is also evident that, whatever purpose a 



