PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Much as Englishmen pride themselves on being good " judges '' of a 

 horse, the fact remains that exact ideas on the important subject of 

 Conformation are current neither in the traditions of our "horsey ^^ 

 people, nor in our literature. The few English authors who have 

 written on it, have done so in a fragmentary manner, and have 

 contented themselves for the most part with laying down rule-of- 

 thumb maxims for the blind acceptance of their readers. The 

 French, on the contrary, have written on rextirieur, several elaborate 

 books upon which they have expended an amount of scientific 

 knowledge that does them infinite credit. It must be admitted that 

 although they have proved themselves, in this respect, much superior 

 in scientific research to our countrymen, their works seem to show that 

 their experience has been gained more in the study and dissecting 

 room, than in the stable and in the field. Both classes of authors, I 

 venture to submit, have erred in trying to make general rules suitable 

 to all kinds of horses, instead of pointing out that the standard of 

 shape should, to a great extent, vary according to the work demanded. 

 I may mention that illustrations of horses or of special " points ** of 

 these animals drawn without the aid of photography, having a bias 

 difficult to be repressed, render the ideas of the artist more 

 accurately than they portray the realities of nature. 



In the attempt to conform to the requirements of truth, I have, as 

 far as practicable, relied on photography for illustration. This art 

 not alone gives exact representations, with marvellous minuteness of 

 detail, but has completed the solution (begun hy Professor Marey) of 

 the once vexed question of the action of the horse's limbs during the 

 various forms of movement, and has accordingly afforded us, in our 

 present study, data which are as instructive as they are reliable. As 

 I have written this book for non-scientific readers^ as well as for those 

 who desire to thoroughly master the subject ; I have placed in small 

 print the few chapters which I have devoted to the anatomical and 

 mechanical details which were necessary to render the work complete. 

 A perusal of the large print chapters will give a good general view of 



