160 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



will be valuable for reference for any horseman, however expert he ma;y 

 be. This illustration combines the average measurements of six horses, 

 accepted for perfect s^'mmetry, and taken, says Mr. J. H. "Walsh (Stone- 

 benge)- —one of the most graphic and lucid of English writers on the 

 horse — two of them from celebrated stallions, two from thorough-bred 

 hunters, and two from chargers of great value. This, therefore, will not 

 apply to draft horses, but it will be found that the nearer the general 

 utility horse comes to these measurements, the better he will be. 



I^XH£S. 



Height 68 



Length from shoulder-point to quarter 66 



From the lowest part of the chest to the ground 36 



From the elbow-poiot to the ground 39 



From the withers to the pole, jusc behind the ears, in a straight line 30 



The same measured along the crest 32 



Length of head 22 



Width across the forehead 9 1-2 



From the withers to the hip 22 



From the stifle to the point of the hock, in the attitude shown in the plan 29 



From the root of the tail to the stifle-joint 26 



From the point of the hock to the ground 22 1-2 



Length of arm from the elbow to the pisiform bone (the rear bone of those 



forming the upper articulation of the knee) 191-2 



From the pisiform bone to the ground 19 1-2 



rfxirlh varies from 78 to 79 



Circumference of fore-cannon bone (large metacarpei or shank bone, extend- 

 ing from the knee to the fetlock) 7 1-2, 8, 8, 8, 8 1-2 and 9 



Circumference of arm just below the elbow 16 1-2 to 18 



The foregoing is not to be taken as a fixed rule in comparing ordinary 

 horses, nor even those well-bred. Eclipse, for instance, may be given as 

 a most wonderful horse, differing in many material respects from these 

 measurements. He was three inches taller at the withers, and yet higher 

 in the croup than at the withers. His head was of the same length as 

 the average given, but it is said to have been twelve inches across at the 

 forehead. He was a big horse in every respect ; tall, lengthy, capacious 

 Ib bodv, higher behind than before, his neck and back long, the loin 

 roached, his limbs would by some be called long, but they were strong 

 with large joints, but fine ; his quarters straight, square and extended ; 

 thighs long and muscular ; shoulders only moderately oblique, and of 

 fair depth ; his knees and hocks broad and well formed ; head small, and 

 as will be observed from its great breadth of forehead, Arab-like. On 

 the whole it would probably be difficult to improve the proportions of 

 Eclipse, simply as a weight-carrving racer. For the hunting field, the 

 fine saddle horse, or any of the uses to which practical men put their 

 W«rse&, aside from flat racing, select as many of the superior points of 



