proportions. yy 



shoulders having more freedom and the neck being 

 lighter. The equality of the two verticals balances the 

 forces of the anterior and posterior. Finally, if the 

 vertical of the croup be elevated, this augmentation 

 imparts greater animation to the progression of the horse 

 by favouring the muscles of this portion, as is most 

 frequently to be found in horses of noble gaits. 



A horse is said to be good in the upper portion when 

 it has an unbroken curve from the neck between the 

 withers, back and croup ; good in the lower portion when 

 the lines of the members harmonise. 



When these two conditions of the upper and lower 

 portions are found together, they are said to make a 

 handsome and well-proportioned animal. In the opposite 

 case the animal is disconnected. 



It may be thought that the prescribed measurements 

 are only applicable to the Oriental horses, which are 

 usually inscribed in a square, i.e., their length does not 

 exceed their height. I can positively assert that these 

 measurements occur far more frequently than would be 

 imagined even in the English race-horse, long reputed 

 to be and always represented as though deformed in the 

 dimensions of the croup and the smallness of the head. 

 This is a phantasy which may be fashionable, but is 

 unworthy of serious discussion. 



I have often measured race-horses, and, according to 

 my experiments, the length of the point of the arm to 

 that of the buttocks invariably lies between two and a 

 half heads and two and three quarter heads, even in 

 English horses said to be long. It is many years since 

 I first learnt mistrust of exaggerations drawn under the 

 pretext of sketches made from nature. 



Fortunately for the due consignment of these artistic 

 perpetrations to their proper position, we possess a great 

 number of photographs : the animal is clearly visible in 

 profile, and photographic perspective, in this pose, never 

 attenuates either the height or length, which permits the 

 verification of the exactitude of these dimensions and the 

 deduction of mathematical consequences conformable to 

 the truth. This is a study placed at the disposition of 

 one and all. 



It is clear that if the length of the horse were caused 



