430 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE'. 



particular, initiated the reader into the difficulties which he will meet 

 with, and established the principles which it is indispensable to know. 

 Now, we must complete this study by some general reflections upon 

 the method to be pursued in order to properly utilize the ideas which 

 we have presented in the preceding chapters. 



Balance of the Good and of the Bad. Whilst insisting, as 

 we have done, upon a search for beauty, we did not mean to advise the 

 beginner to pursue absolute perfection, ideal beauty. This would have 

 been launching him upon a path without issue, and leading him into 

 error from a practical point of view, for that kind of perfection is imagi- 

 nary. In fact, there is no horse which combines all qualities, for the 

 latter are, so to speak, infinite. But we meet subjects which have many 

 of them, and are therefore relatively more perfect than others. And 

 again, this superiority is a rarity which we must not delay too long in 

 seeking ; for we would often run the risk of not attaining it, which 

 would mean a sheer loss of time and money. It is useful, however, 

 to be acquainted with ideal beauty ; he who has no knowledge of it 

 allows to pass before his eyes some of the very features by which it 

 shows itself, and this at his expense ; since another person, better 

 informed than he, may discover them. 



In every horse we find some good qualities and some faults. In 

 whatever proportion they are mixed, the animal is never worthless. 

 He always has a value based upon the existence of the good qualities and 

 upon the depreciation which the faults cause in him. It is necessary, 

 from an economical point of view, to establish this value. By what 

 means can we accomplish this ? By weighing the good and the bad. 

 This weighing must not consist in the pure and simple ascertaining of 

 the one and of the other, but in a mechanical and physiological bal- 

 ancing of the two ; it must be the result not of observation alone, but 

 of a careful analysis, a judicious and thorough comparison. 



The purchaser cannot be too deeply impressed with this principle, 

 that the fitness of the whole is derived, above all else, from the degree 

 of equilibrium of its details. If the latter does not exist, the motor 

 is only capable of disconnected efforts ; the greatest part of his force is 

 lost, producing a result injurious to himself and prejudicial and burden- 

 some to those who employ him ; it means his more or less immediate 

 ruin, and, in all cases, incompetency. 



Compensations. In order to appreciate the vital and dynamical 

 equilibrium, it is not sufficient to make a simple subtraction, to reckon up 

 separately the beauties on the one hand and the defects on the other, 

 to see which total is in excess, and to judge by the amount of the 



