604 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
with the blood-horse : it is not so much, however, the dead weight 
of their bodies as it is the bulk of their frames — that which is spread 
out in the one being condensed and consolidated in the other, with- 
out any material loss of power or strength. A reduction of the 
bulk of parts, renders them not only actually lighter but fitter for 
conveyance through the air at a quick rate ; and when this is 
effected with increased advantages of lever and facilities for motion, 
speed must result : the loss of strength not being commensurate 
with the gain of speed. What, however, as I said before, has as 
much or more to do with enhancing the animal’s powers of speed 
and endurance than either his diminished bulk on any notable 
differences in the “ mechanical arrangement” of parts, is the dif- 
ference of texture between one and the other, combined with the 
endowment of a higher amount of nervous energy : for, regard the 
differences of structure or texture as we may, they are still of 
themselves insufficient to account for those capabilities which are 
comprehended in the phrase “ blood” or “ breeding” ; and which 
we well know from experience will carry the animal through his 
labours, when every thing else would fail. Vital or nervous en- 
dowment, mysterious and incapable of physical demonstration as it 
may be to us, must, therefore, ever be taken into the account of 
feats of action and endurance : and when large horses possess this 
fineness of fibre, together with the requisite nervous energy, we 
know they will “ beat” all little horses. Eclipse was, altogether, a 
stupendous horse ; and with his powers and breeding combined, 
no competitor could live with him. The reason why, in general, 
little horses are better than big ones is, that they inherit a concen- 
tration of power and energy which the larger sort seldom possess : 
the moment, however, a breed of good large horses is discovered, 
the little sort cannot fail to fall into the background. 
When we reflect on the quick and varied motion of which an 
animal body is susceptible, — the number of parts there are to be 
moved, and that every muscle or moving power necessarily has its 
antagonist muscle or power, we shall not feel so much surprise at 
learning that there are upwards of three hundred muscles distri- 
buted over the body and limbs, and that these vary almost in every 
possible degree in magnitude, and are of an endless variety of shape 
or figure. Being mostly for the purpose of locomotion, the majo- 
rity and the largest of them run from the body to the limbs ; and 
the hind limbs, from having a great deal more to perform than the 
fore, possess the largest and thickest masses of muscle. The parts 
called the buttocks or quarters being composed of muscles whose 
office it is to propel the animal onward in progression, necessarily 
possess great fleshiness and bulkiness. The fore limbs are slender 
compared with the hind, they having little more to perform than to 
