89 



the foreliead, over the eyes, and the chin assumes the form of an 

 angle. 



ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 



The Arabs have the following rules for the proportions of a horse : 

 — The ears should be short, and quick in action, the bones firm but 

 thin, the jaws not fleshy, nor the muscles enlarged, the nostrils well 

 spread, like those of a lion ; the eyes black and set in the centre of 

 the head ; the chest prominent, proceeding gradually from the slope 

 of the shoulders, which of necessity causes them to project. The 

 withers prominent, the loins close, the shoulder long, the thigh 

 short, the belly hollow, the buttocks well rounded, it being regarded 

 as most fortunate when the buttocks are as long as the withers and 

 back together. The veins in the legs should be scarcely perceptible, 

 the gaff black, and of one shade, the mane fine and thick, the skin 

 firm, and the tail stout, with a gradual declension. The horse, in 

 fact, should be proportioned thus : Four points broad — The head, 

 the chest, the buttocks, the limbs. Four points long — The chest, 

 the fore-shoulders, the belly, the hips. Four points short — The ribs, 

 the pasterns, the ears, the tail. 



When a horse is longer from the point of the withers to the en d 

 of the nose than from that point to the tail, the proportion is good ; 

 it being different when the reverse is the case. 



Acting on this, General Morris has proposed the following plan of 

 estimating the true proportion of a horse : — 



" The generic law of proportion applicable to strength and swift- 

 ness, sustained by a certain mathematical demonstration, is found in 

 the direction of rayons articulaires. Let us remember they are com- 

 posed, not only of bone, but of muscle. It is not the bone only in 

 its shape and direction which is to be considered, but what is seen in 

 Imagination when the horse is in motion. 



'• First, a perfect parallelism should exist between the head, the 

 shoulders, the buttocks, and the pastern. Second, the same applies 

 to the chest, the arm, and the bones of the haunches. All these 

 parallel directions should form angles of -iSdeg. Neither the head 

 nor chest really form these points, but for general consideration they 

 should be so regarded. 



'• Let A C be a horizontal line, or starting point. At the point A 

 raise the perpendicular A B, and take upon this last the length A E, 

 equal to twice and a half the line X X, imaginary measure of a head. 

 This length A E represents, according to Bourgelat, the height of the 

 horse, from his head to the ground. 



"Drawing from the point E a line parallel with the base, and 



