126 XENOPHON ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



14. (Page i8.) The word used here, vTro/^aa-t^, is 

 very vague, and has given rise to various interpre- 

 tations. I think it refers to the act of gathering 

 in the hind legs in doing the demi-pesade, 

 described in the eleventh chapter. 



15. (Page i8.) This fact is noted also by Aris- 

 totle (Part. Anim. 4, 10, 12) and Pliny (Nat. 

 Hist. II, 260), who state that young quadrupeds 

 can reach their heads to scratch them with the 

 hind feet; Pliny adds that they cannot graze 

 without bending the forelegs. Buffon indepen- 

 dently observed these facts. Schlieben (p. 86) 

 gives two Arabian methods of estimating what 

 will be the height of horses. By the first a cord 

 is stretched from the nostril over the ears and 

 down along the neck ; this distance is compared 

 with that from the withers to the foot ; the colt 

 will grow as much taller as the first distance 

 exceeds the second. By the other method, the 

 distance between the knee and the withers is 

 compared with that from the knee to the coronet ; 

 if it has reached the proportion of two to one, the 

 horse will grow no taller. 



16. (Page 20.) See p. 75. 



17. (page 23.) By the word " markers," yi/w/xove?, 

 Xenophon means the milk-teeth, and he is there- 

 fore advising against the purchase of a horse over 

 five years old. The times of the shedding of 



