CHAP. I.] EXTERNAL FORMATION. 25 



CHAPTER I. 



External formation or structure of the Horse, and 

 the disorders originating therein. 



Section 1. — Scarcely any man who is in the 

 habit of seeing many horses perform their labour, 

 and of observing their capabilities of several kinds, 

 but acquires, thereby, some insight of the pro- 

 perties conferred on the animal by such or such 

 points of conformation. Hfe can tell, at first sight, 

 nearly from this habitude, " what a horse can do;" 

 but few men reduce their observations to writing, 

 least of all to principles, upon which we may after- 

 wards reason, or draw conclusions with any de- 

 gree of certainty, as to what duties a horse cannot 

 perform properly, when wanting those points of 

 excellence, and which duties ought, therefore, 

 never to be required of him ; or, being so imposed 

 upon him improperly, are productive of certain 

 disorders that invariably attend such misapplica- 

 tion of his powers. No doubt it has happened, that 

 a speedy horse with a radical defect, — in the shape 

 of his hind quarters, for example, — yet having a 

 corresponding defect before, the one makes up for 

 the other, and such horses may occasionally per- 

 form well for a short time, but then they are no 

 tasters: all the while they may thus be at the 



