1 86 The Arabian Horse, 



first place from the Arabian. Too round and too heavy 

 a chest, however good it may be for heavy draught and 

 slow work, is not adapted to rapid and continuous pro- 

 gression. Horses possessing narrow chests and flat 

 sides are often spirited, very fast, but are incapable of 

 continued work. Neither of this kind are suitable to 

 the hunter or trooper, nor fit to be the sire of horses for 

 such purposes. Although the latter, being often a horse 

 of high speed, may be successful in half-mile races, he 

 ought not to be considered a race horse. To fully ex- 

 plain the advantages of the Arabian as a sire, the use 

 of the chest should be considered. Youatt says, ' The 

 contents of the chest are the lungs and the heart : the 

 first to render the blood nutrient and stimulating, and to 

 give or restore to it that vitality which will enable it to 

 support every part of the frame in the discharge of its 

 function, and devoid of which the complicated and 

 beautiful machine is inert and dead ; and the second, to 

 convey this purified arterialized blood to every part of 

 the frame.' 



Tn order to produce and to convey to the various 

 parts a sufficient quantity of blood, these organs must 

 be large. If it amounts not to hypertrophy, the larger 

 the heart and lungs the more rapid the process of 

 nutrition, and the more perfect the discharge of every 

 animal function.' He then explains the circular chest is 

 clearly not ' advantageous, for it cannot expand, but 

 every change of form would be a diminution of capacity, 

 whereas the contents of the chest are ' alternately ex- 

 panding and contracting.' 



