THE 



EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



SECTION FIRST. 



PRELIMINARY IDEAS OF ANIMAL MECHANICS. 



CHAPTER I. 



OBJECT, END, AND UTILITY OF THE EXTERIOR. 



THE term exterior of the horse seems to have been employed by 

 veterinarians only since the close of the last century, dating from 

 the period when Bourgelat published his book upon the external 

 form of the horse in 1768, six years after the foundation of veterinary 

 schools. 



Before his time veterinarians and horsemen had entered but super- 

 ficially upon the study of the forms of the horse. They had limited 

 themselves in their works to determining, sometimes by figures, the 

 principles relating to the proportions. These efforts, however, had 

 passed, so to speak, unperceived, were lost among the publications of 

 the times and drowned in the midst of the different writings of which 

 the numerous veterinary treatises were composed. Here, as in the 

 other branches of veterinary science, Bourgelat was endeavoring to 

 establish principles to guide the pupils who flocked into his schools. 

 If it be remembered that this innovator was an eminent master as 

 well as a skilful horseman, we will not be astonished to see that he 

 has reached with the greatest ease, in his treatise on the exterior, if not 

 absolute perfection, at least that degree of exactness which it was just 

 to demand at that epoch from a man who turned everything into in- 

 struction. Bourgelat more than all others was conscious of the great 

 utility of the horse, and the necessity of preparing in a special manner 



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