484 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
line extended from the summit of his rump proved the measure of 
another passing from the root of the tail to the stifle, to a second 
drawn between the latter point and the hock, and to a third from 
the hock to the toe of the hoof. The breadth of the thigh, “ taken 
below the fold of the buttock,” was great, ten inches ; the same as 
the arm across at the elbow. Likewise there was great extension 
between the point of the hock and the bend of the ham, the 
measure being eight inches ; shewing Eclipse must have been the 
possessor of extraordinarily broad or good hocks, a point of the very 
first importance in a racer. The cannons and pasterns measured, 
as is always the case, longer in the hind than in the fore limbs. 
Eclipse’s limbs were not only large, but long : he must have been 
what is called a “ long-legged” horse ; for St. Bel tells us, he 
measured forty-one inches from his elbow to the ground ; leaving 
but twenty-five inches — his height being sixty-six — in a per- 
pendicular line to the top of the withers ; and as the general rule 
is, that horses should measure equal lengths from the fetlock to 
the elbow, and from the latter to the withers, if we subtract the 
length of the pasterns and foot, altogether, say nine or ten inches, or 
even a foot, we shall still have an excess of length of limb. After 
we have been told, however, that his chest measured twenty-six 
inches in diameter, there appears something rather irreconcileable 
with the statement that from the withers to the elbow is but 
twenty-five inches. It is not my desire to impugn St. Bel’s 
“ table,” though I must say that in this, and one or two places 
besides, there appears some discordance in his admeasurements. 
We may, however, I think, safely receive as matter of fact 
the following summary : — 
Eclipse was “ a big horse” in every sense of the words : he was 
tall in stature, lengthy in his body, and large in his limbs. For a 
big horse, his head was small, and partook of the Arabian character. 
His neck was unusually long. His shoulder was thick or strong, 
sufficiently oblique, but not remarkable for depth. His chest was 
circular. He rose very little in his withers, being higher behind 
than before. His back was lengthy, and over the loins roached. 
His quarters were straight, square, and lengthy. His limbs were 
long and broad, and his joints large : in particular his arms and 
thighs were lengthy and muscular, and his knees and hocks broad 
and well-formed. 
That which, however, constituted, in St. Bel’s eye, “ the most 
beautiful and important quality of his structure” was the perpendi- 
cular lines drawn through his fore and hind limbs : indeed, so per- 
fect were they, that “ they may serve,” adds St. Bel, “ as rules in 
the choice of the best racers.” 
The first perpendicular falls from (what we call “the 
