94 THE HORSE. 



Just as the legs of the rider must progressively press 

 closer during the action, so must they relax little by 

 little (but without the withdrawal or ascension of the 

 knee), thus reverting to a natural fall upon the stirrup 

 again become vertical, 



I have no intention of further entering upon 

 equitation, being neither authorised by my own com- 

 petency nor by the aim of this work. Those 

 desirous of practical cognisance of the horse will 

 find complete satisfaction in the instructive book 

 ("A Reasonable Theory of Riding") by M. Raabe, the 

 professor of equitation, which is a necessity for every 

 horseman ; it is by his authority that I have been 

 guided. 



Despite the difficulty of composing a type recapitula- 

 timg all detailed in the previous pages, after measuring 

 many equestrian photographs, as well as a considerable 

 number of horses, I have been able to arrange a group 

 representing a rider and a man on foot, which nearly 

 correspond to the measurements most frequently 

 repeated in this book. 



The drawing (Fig. B) establishes relations which, 

 I trust, will be used by artists in their compositions ; I 

 can guarantee that they are the nearest possible approach 

 to Nature. 



The man on foot who serves as example is i meter 

 70 centimeters in height ; he is exactly twice the 

 distance from the sternum of the horse (O) to the ground. 

 He is the same stature as the man, previously shown, 

 who is placed in the saddle in the regular position of a 

 rider. 



The horse is 1 meter 60 centimeters in height from 

 the withers (G) to the ground. The head is 60 centi- 

 meters. Take, with a pair of compasses, the distance 

 (S, T), which is the length of the head, from the end of 

 the nose to the nape of the neck, between the ears, and, 

 subsequently, the half of this length. Apply these every- 

 where where I point out these limitations, and the veri- 

 fication of all the measurements in the article on 

 proportions (Chapter VI.) will be found. 



To complete the references, I would add that the 

 length (S, S'), which equals the vertical from the ground 



