I50 COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES. 



no chance with a fourteen-hander of its own class. These 

 striking differences in the standard of useful heights are 

 no doubt chiefly due to the effects of climate ; for if foreign 

 blood be introduced into any country, it will, in a very few 

 generations, assume the characteristics of the local type of 

 horse or pony. 



Careful selection in breeding, good feeding, and healthy 

 conditions of life have a great influence in tending to increase 

 the size, not only of individuals, but also of breeds ; in which 

 case, the standard of useful height, will, naturally, become 

 raised. Thus the average English horse is, at the present 

 day, probably six inches taller than he was 200 years ago. 

 From my own observation, I am inclined to think that horses 

 in England have increased about an inch in height during the 

 last thirty years. We should remember, that when we refer 

 to certain breeds of ponies, we allude to horses that have, 

 for generations, been kept small by privation, inclemency of 

 climate, or other influences which have retarded their growth. 

 Were they placed under conditions favourable to their de- 

 velopment, their descendants would soon become full-sized 

 horses, even in the case of ten-hand Shetland (PL 61) or 

 Corean ponies. It is impossible, therefore, to maintain a 

 race of ponies which are well-fed and well-cared for. 



Length of Limb. — We have seen in Chapter I. that the 

 fundamental difference between animals of speed and those of 

 strength, is that the former have comparatively long legs, and 

 that the latter have comparatively short ones. We have in 

 the camel a well-marked exception to this rule. The Ship 

 of the Desert, as we may see in Fig. 1 70, has very long legs 

 in comparison to his length of body, and yet he is extremely 



