i%2 COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES. 



ponies I have known which were much lower at the withers 

 than at the croup, stood work badly owing to their fore legs 

 being unusually liable to become infirm. I think we may 

 accept the statement that instability of equilibrium (p. 54), 

 which is increased according as the weight on the fore legs 

 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. I cannot too strongly direct the attention of 

 my readers to the necessity of the hunter (p. 245) being 

 "light in front,*' and consequently being higher at the 

 withers than over the croup. 



The lower a horse is in front, other things being equal, 

 the rougher will be his paces ; hence an animal of this 

 kind of conformation will not, as a rule, make a pleasant 

 hack. 



With the harness horse in movement on level ground and 

 especially when going up an incline, the position of the burden 

 will more or less diminish the instability of equilibrium, and 

 consequently the speed : a proof of which statement is obtained 

 from the fact that, as a rule, horses will trot faster under 

 saddle than in a sulky. Also, we find that in match trotting, 

 the tendency is to get the weight of the driver as far forward 

 as possible. I believe I am correct in saying that, agreeably 

 to these principles, the American match trotter is lower at 

 the withers, as compared to his height at the croup, than the 

 race-horse. 



The heavy cart-horse, viewed from a purely draught 

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

 (p. 61), 



Points in Common. — We may advance a step further 

 in our search after the true principles of horse conformation ; 

 for if we compare the proportions of the body of the racer 

 with those of the heavy draught animal,^ we shall find that 

 they are essentially the same, and that the Ccily real difference 

 which exists between these two classes is \n the length of 



