THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XV, No. 169.] JANUARY 1842. [New Series, No. 1. 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
By William PERCIVALL, M.R.C.S., Veterinary Surgeon 
First Life Guards. 
LECTURE I. 
FORM AND ACTION. 
“ A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse !” 
WHEN Richard in the heat of battle made use of this soul- 
stirring exclamation, I take it he wanted a horse with form, and 
fire, and action, such as England alone, no less perhaps in those 
days than the present, could furnish him with. In what other 
part of the world could the Hotspur spirit of Richard have been 
suited 1 or where could he have met with an antagonist well enough 
mounted to have required such a steed to oppose him with, save in 
Britain 1 Exists there in any other country cavalry equal to our 
own 1 Can a horse of any foreign breed out-run the English racer 1 
Acknowledgedly in possession of the finest and fleetest horses in 
the world, is a proof — and a pretty convincing one — that our know- 
ledge concerning them, in a practical point of view, has attained a 
degree of eminence of which we may justly feel proud; and yet 
in veterinary and equestrian literature we appear to be behind 
France and Germany, and, perhaps, Italy too. We have several 
modern books on veterinary medicine — we have some on anatomy ; 
but we lack one on what is commonly called “ Exterior Conforma- 
tion this want I propose to use my humble endeavours in the 
present lectures to supply. 
Animal bodies have been compared to works of art and to ma- 
chines and engines of various descriptions. Such comparisons, at the 
same time that they manifest their boundless inferiority to their 
great prototype, have still had their use in serving to explain 
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