DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHT. 77 



and we shall find that in consequence of the projection forwards 

 of the head and neck, the larger moiety is sustained by the fore 

 leg (or legs) than by the hind. This can easily be demonstrated 

 in the act of standing ; but the same rule which applies to that 

 position will also serve for any other. 



It is important to the horsemaster to ascertain the circumstances 

 which will change these proportions, because he finds practically 

 that, in road work, the fore legs wear out faster than the hind, and 

 consequently any means by which the weight on them can be re- 

 duced will be a gain to him in a pecuniary point of view. M. 

 Baucher placed a horse with his fore and hind legs on separate 

 weighing machines, and found that a hack mare when left to 

 assume her own attitude, weighed on the fore scales 210 kilo- 

 grammes, while her hind quarters drew only 174, the total weight 

 of the animal being 384 kilogrammes, each of which is equal to 

 21bs. 2ozs. 4drs. 16grs. avoirdupois. By depressing the head so 

 as to bring the nose to a level with the chest, eight additional 

 kilogrammes were added to the front scales, while the raising of 

 that part to the height of the withers transferred ten kilogrammes 

 to the hindermost scales. Again, by raising and drawing back the 

 head, in a similar way to the action of the bearing rein, eight kilo- 

 grammes were transferred from the fore to the hind scales, and this 

 should not be forgotten in discussing the merits and demerits of 

 that much-abused instrument of torture. M. Baucher then mounted 

 the mare, when it was found that his weight, which was sixty-four 

 kilogrammes, was placed in the proportion of forty-one kilogrammes 

 on the fore quarters to twenty-three on the hind. A considerable 

 change was of course produced by leaning backward, and by using 

 the reins in the manner of the bearing rein, the former transfer- 

 ring ten kilogrammes from the fore to the hind quarters, and the 

 latter act adding eight more. 



Every practised horseman knows that his horse's fore legs 

 will suffer in proportion to the weight which is thrown on them, 

 while their relief is an additional source of strain to the hind legs. 

 The spavined, and more especially the curby-hocked horse, relieves 

 these parts by using his fore legs to carry more than their proper 

 proportion of weight, while the animal affected with any painful 

 disease of the fore limbs carries almost all the weight of his body 

 on his hind legs, which are advanced under him in the most pecu- 

 liar manner. The value of artificially changing the natural car- 

 riage of the horse, so as to make his hind legs come forward and 

 carry more than their own share of weight, is chiefly felt in 

 chargers, hacks, and harness horses, while, on the contrary, it is 

 injurious to the hunter and the race-horse, whose hind quarters 

 bear the greatest strain. 

 7* 



