122 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
varying from the circumstance of the perpetual changes in the 
erection and declination of the head and neck, not to notice the 
unimportant fluctuations that may be caused in it by the move- 
ments of respiration and by the constant shifting of place of the 
viscera. The line of gravitation will be liable again to undergo 
variations of some consequence from the imposition of weight upon 
the animal’s back, and they will be found to be of a nature cor- 
respondent with the situation of the weight imposed, its bulk or 
amount, stability, &c. Some professional confreres of ours on 
the other side of the water, with that indefatigable spirit of cu- 
rious inquiry for which they are on occasions so much to be lauded, 
have been at the pains to ascertain the degrees of these changes 
and the manner in which they are effected, both in respect to 
the animal itself and to its rider. 
Messieurs Morris and Baucher*, desirous of ascertaining cor- 
rectly the influence of the head and neck on the distribution of the 
weight of the horse upon his four legs, especially upon the fore 
and hind legs, as pairs, had horses weighed in scales, constructed 
some years ago at the Custom-house for that especial purpose. 
The first placed upon the balance was a hackney-mare, with 
saddle and bridle on, well enough shaped, except that she was 
rather heavy before. She was found to weigh in her fore-hand 
210 kilogrammes ^ , in her hind 174, total 384, difference in fa- 
vour of the fore-hand 36; there being, during the weighing, a 
fluctuation between three and five kilogrammes arising from the 
respiratory and visceral movements. The head was now forced 
down, until the muzzle came to a level with the chest: this made 
a difference of eight kilogrammes additional on the fore-hand. 
Elevation of the head, until the muzzle rose as high as the withers, 
caused a transfer of ten kilogrammes from the fore to hind quarters. 
The head being released, was next reined in and upward rather : 
this occasioned a rejection of eight kil. on the hind quarters. 
From these results we may deduce the conclusion, that the more 
the head is elevated, either naturally or by the hand, the more 
its weight and that of the neck is equally distributed upon the 
limbs, without any thing forced in the position. 
After these experiments, M. Baucher mounted the mare : the 
weights then stood — fore-hand 251 kil., hind 197, total 448, 
difference 54. The horseman being placed in an academical po- 
sition, had his weight, which was 64 kil., distributed thus : 41 kil. 
upon the fore-hand, and 23 upon the hind. Throwing the body 
backward occasioned a transfer of 10 kil. from fore to hindward ; 
* Extracted from the Journal de Haras, Juin 1835, into Lecoq’s l’Exte- 
rieur du Cheval. 
f A kilogramme is about 2f lbs. troy. 
