342 PHOTOGRAPHING HORSES. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



PHOTOGRAPHING HORSES. 



Photography is a very useful aid for the acquisition of a 

 knowledge of conformation; for it enables us to place on 

 record exact results unobtainable by other means. This is 

 a truth which is too evident to need support by argument. 



Photographs are taken of a horse with the object of 

 obtaining a picture, a portrait, a combination of the two, 

 or a likeness of the animal by which his " points " may be 

 best seen and compared, with the greatest exactness, to those 

 of other horses. When a picture is the end in view, the 

 pose will have to be subordinated to artistic requirements. 

 If a portrait, the position should be that which will convey 

 to the spectator the best possible idea of the general look 

 of the animal. This will usually be obtained when his 

 body is in profile, and the head and neck carried in the 

 manner most characteristic of the horse in question. The 

 head may, therefore, be turned a little to one side or to the 

 other, as in Pis. -^^ or 62. When, however, the photograph 

 is required as a more or less exact record of the horse's 

 "make and shape," he should be in as nearly perfect profile 

 as practicable ; just as if he were posed for the inspection 

 of an intending buyer. Owing to the laws of perspective, a 



