So THE HORSE. 



has certainly produced a horse which is longer than 

 will ever be the descendants of its Arab ancestor, fortunate 

 when it is indebted to the inclination of the shoulder and 

 the size of the thigh, and not to the flanks, which will 

 then be under defective and weak loins. 



Never let it be forgotten that, above all else, I would 

 warn the artist against the tendency of representing the 

 conformations of horses after the manner of the English 

 engravings, the thorax and haunches of the animals of 

 which have dimensions double those of reality ; the 

 admission of these elegantly-reproduced and beautifully- 

 engraved exaggerations has become almost a tacit con- 

 vention, although they possess no resemblance to nature, 

 and have their sole justification in the habitual erroneous- 

 ness of vision. 



The figure of the horses of the present day is the 

 same as that of the famous steeds of antiquity ; their 

 internal conformation and their muscularity can have 

 undergone no variation. As for the gaits, the walk, trot 

 and natural gallop bear complete resemblance to the 

 same gaits of horses broken by habit without the assis- 

 tance of the riding-school, because it has always been 

 mechanically impossible, outside the small class of clever 

 circus horses, to induce the four members to move in any 

 method contrary to the natural order. 



The osseous frame of the animal changes neither its 

 correspondence nor its proportions, in order to respond 

 to the artificial education given to the individual ; it can 

 be taught to dance, but it instinctively knows how to 

 walk and run. 



In Europe, the work to which horses are submitted 

 being mere interrupted by repose, consisting as it often 

 does in the case of the same animal now of carrying, now 

 of drawing, with more or less speed, it has proved 

 necessary to increase the stature and develop certain 

 proportions, at first by substantial nutrition as reparation 

 for and facilitation of considerable efforts, subsequently 

 by judicious modification of this alimentation, according 10 

 the nature of the animal and the exigencies of the muscular 

 resistance demanded by the special work required. 



The English have wisely allotted various breeds of 

 horses to the different employments demanded. Select as 



