PREFACE. ix 



Besides the new features in this book to which I have 

 already drawn notice, I may mention that I have tried to 

 arrive at a knowledge of the respective " points " of speed and 

 strength in the horse, by examining the conformation of other 

 animals that are distinguished by the possession of one or 

 other of these "gifts " in a high state of perfection. Also, I 

 have made a more exhaustive inquiry into the nature of the 

 paces and of the leap of the horse than has previously been 

 attempted ; my object being to obtain from it exact deduc- 

 tions as to the best kind of conformation for various forms 

 of work. 



At the suggestion of my friend, Veterinary Colonel Ander- 

 son, I began, about fifteen years ago, to write a book on 

 the Points of the Horse, which subject I resolved to treat 

 according to the time-honoured methods of my literary 

 predecessors. I worked at it while studying to become 

 a veterinary surgeon, and after that at Newmarket, where 

 I went to reside in order to increase my knowledge of English 

 thoroughbreds. For this, every facility was given me by my 

 kind friends, Mr. John Hammond, Edwin Martin, Jarvis, 

 Tom. Jennings, Junr., Alf. Sadler, R. Sherwood, and others, 

 who were always glad to show me their horses, and discuss 

 their various points. When the book was completed in 1883, 

 I despatched the manuscript to my publishers by the hand of 

 a friend, who, by an extraordinary piece of good luck, lost it 

 so effectually that I have not seen it since. While suffering 

 from the shock caused by the loss of the results of seven 

 years' toil, I happened to read Professor Marey's Machine 

 Animale (Animal Mechanics), and before I got half through 

 it, I grasped the fact that I ha d been working in an entirely 

 wrong groove, and that my careless friend had, most for- 



