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CHAPTER XV. 



COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES. 



General Remarks — Limit of Height — Length of Limb — Length and Depth of 

 Body — Thickness of Limb — Comparative Length of Fore and Hind 

 Limbs — Length of Neck — Length of Head — Width between the Legs — 

 Comparative Weight of Body — Comparative Length of the Bones of 

 the Limbs — Differences of Conformation between the two Sexes. 



General Remarks. — In order to simplify comparison and to 

 prevent tedious repetition, I shall confine myself in the present 

 chapter chiefly to the consideration of the principal differ- 

 ences of proportion between the race-horse and the heavy cart 

 animal, which are, respectively, the extreme types of horses of 

 speed and horses of strength. 



The method of working from the whole to a part should 

 be followed as rigorously in judging a horse, as in painting or 

 land surveying. If we desire to obtain correctness in these 

 arts, we must, as a rule, first get our general outline, and then 

 fill in the details. If, in our preliminary examination, we 

 allow our eyes to be caught by some isolated beauty or defect, 

 we would be — to use an oft-applied simile — like a painter who 

 begins a full-length portrait of a person by drawing the nose, 

 and then hangs the remainder of the body to it. I cannot too 

 strongly insist on the fact that the degree of adaptability of 

 an animal for any special kind of useful work, depends more 



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