16© COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES. 



and the South African, Coachman. As an extreme case of a 

 pony being high behind, I give the photograph of a pony 

 mare (see PI. 20) who, though she passed the standard at 

 13-3, measured nearly fifteen hands over the croup. Even 

 allowing for a certain amount of "fakement," there was 

 about four inches difference between her height at the withers 

 and at the croup. As she was also rather heavy in the 

 shoulders, it is almost needless to say that she did not stand 

 training. I may remark that instability of equilibrium [see 

 p. 67), which is increased according as the weight on the 

 fore lesfs exceeds that on the hind ones, should be obtained, 

 in the galloper, more by the body being short and the legs 

 and neck long, than by the difference of height between the 

 withers and the croup. 



The lower a horse is in front, the rougher will be his 

 paces ; hence an animal of this kind of conformation will 

 not, as a rule, make a pleasant hack ; nor would he, in 

 most cases, do well as a hunter ; for the excess of weight 

 in front would proportionately militate against his safety 

 when landing over a fence, and against the soundness of 

 his fore legs. 



The heavy cart-horse, viewed from a purely draught 

 point of view, ought to be higher in front than behind 

 {see p. 74). 



Length of Neck. — As the muscles which draw the 

 fore leg forward (namely, those of the neck) are muscles of 

 locomotion, they should be proportionate in length to those 

 of the fore limb. Hence, if a horse has long fore legs, 

 like the race-horse, he ought to have a long neck ; and vice 

 versa. 



