yS THE HORSE. 



by the obliquity of the shoulder making the withers 

 retreat to the rear, a great depth of chest and an exten- 

 sive croup, indicative of the vigorous strength Df so fine 

 an anterior, the animal would be pre-eminently long ; but, 

 in reality, it is nearly always the elongation of the loins 

 alone which is productive of the few centimeters in excess 

 which distinguish the horse said to be long from the one 

 the height of which is equal to its length. 



It is an error to believe (most probably from having 

 heard it so often said) that the race-horse is an exception 

 to this law. Many measurements upon winning racers 

 prove the contrary. 



Not to trespass upon the patience of the reader, I 

 will only quote one example. I take up by mere chance 

 a list containing a summary of experiments. In forty 

 instances which were measured, I find thirty-seven race- 

 horses in each of which the height was found to be the 

 length, and only three (Dick, Monarch and Ralph) were 

 longer than they were high, whilst out of the thirty- 

 seven, there were nine which were higher than they were 



lon g- 



Nothing is more easy than to fall into error in a 



superficial estimation. As a proof, I place before the 



reader a drawing of two horses (fig. 36). The first is 



the copy of a photograph, exactly two and a half heads 



high, in the double sense, both of height and length. 



The second is this type only elongated by the quarter of 



the length of the head. 



It is clear that the first horse will seem short, but the 

 second will always have the appearance of a long horse. 

 Nevertheless, verification with a pair of compasses will 

 show the exactitude of the very trifling difference above 

 mentioned. Thence may be easily imagined the different 

 effect upon the eye if the second horse had three heads 

 instead of two and three-quarter heads, as length in 

 comparison with the height. 



I should therefore say that it will need long practice 

 to obtain the capacity of eye of a true connoisseur who has 

 to take everything into account in order to arrive at an 

 adequate view of the horse, that is to say, to be capable 

 of competently judging it. 



The painter, being once warned, will augment or 



