644 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



Concerning the size, it apjiears to us that the life of small horses is 

 longer than that of large ones, but it would be very perplexing to give 

 the explanation of this fact. 



The service produces its principal effects through the more or less 

 intense fatigue and wear which it occasions. Certain subjects have such 

 a quiet existence and such good hygienic surroundings that they often 

 attain a very advanced age. Those which inhabit the large industrial 

 centres live under entirely different conditions. There, more than any- 

 where else, the services at a fast gait, which exact frequently-repeated 

 violent efforts, the prolonged duration of the daily work, the inclem- 

 encies of the weather, etc., exhaust the vitality, predispose the system 

 to diseases, and cause premature death. Hence, for opposite reasons, 

 horses kept in the country attain a more advanced age than those in 

 cities. 



The care received from man has likewise a great influence. Bad 

 treatment, privation of nourishment, insufficiency of the latter and its 

 poor quality, do not permit the necessary reparation of the incessant 

 losses due to the work, and shorten the duration of the services. 



To recapitulate, it will be understood that this question cannot be 

 determined in a very precise manner : the causes which tend to com- 

 plicate the subject are too numerous, and yet it is necessary to take 

 cognizance of them. One horse is old, worn out, at the age of twelve 

 years ; another still performs his work at twenty or twenty-two. 



Be this as it may, the following are some remarkable examples of 

 longevity : 



One of our friends, M. Laurent, has sent us the jaws obtained from 

 horses which had lived forty-two, forty-three, and forty-nine years. 

 We have known several which had passed thirty-five years. Finally, 

 we have seen, in 1845, at the Petite-Villette, a horse which had served 

 in a regiment of cuirassiers during the Russian campaign in 1813. 

 If, at the beginning of the campaign, this animal was six years of age, 

 he must, therefore, have been thirty-eight at the time when we saw him. 

 It is rare to observe such advanced age, because owners generally 

 dispose of the subjects whose work becomes insufficient. Rather than 

 deliver them to the slaughter-house, the proprietor sells them ordinarily 

 for a low price, and it is then that they enter upon the most pitiable 

 existence which can be imagined. Financial interest and sentiment 

 are not always in accord ! 



