The horse : with a treatise on draught / by William Youatt.

  • William Youatt
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The horse : with a treatise on draught / by William Youatt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The right-hand one, and the foremost of the two, is sadly defective in the portions of the fore-arms which we are permitted to see. The near one is poorly supplied with muscle. The off-horse is out of all keeping. The large ears placed so low; the clumsy swelling of the lower part of the neck; the bad union of it with the breast; the length and thinness of the barrel compared with the bulk of the fore parts, notwithstanding the natural and graceful position of the hind legs, show no little want of skill in the statuary. The more animated head of the left and hinder horse, the inflated nostril, the opening of the mouth, the form and prominence of the eye, and the laying of the ears, sufficiently confirm the accounts which we have of the spirit—sometimes untameable—of the primitive horses. The neck, how- ever, is too short even for One with these immense forehands; it springs badly out of the chest; the shoulder is very defective; but the fore-arms, their expression and their position, are exceedingly good; the long fore- arms and short leg are excellent, and so are the off-fetlock and foot, but the barrel is deficient, the carcase is lengthy, and the hind-quarters are weak compared with the fore-arms. The beautiful execution of the riders cannot escape observation. The perfect Grecian face, the admirable expression of the countenance, the rounding and perfection of every limb, are sufficient proofs that the riders were portraits, as probably the horses were to a very considerable extent. These animals remind us of some of the heavy ones of the present day particularly; they have the beauties and the defects of many of the modern Holstein horses ; they are high, but perhaps heavy actioned; courageous, spirited, possibly fierce. They exhibit the germs of many future improve- ments, and, taken all together, may be examined with considerable pleasure, remembering that they are horses of nearly 2300 years ago. Art has done much for the horse since that period, but the countenance and figure of the human being were at that time perfect. These horsemen have not even the switch to guide the animal; but they are holding by the mane with the left hand, and are evidently directing the horse by pulling the mane, or pressing the neck with the right hand a little higher up. The breeding of the horse, and his employment for pleasure and in war, were forbidden to the Israelites. They were commanded to hough or hamstrmg those that were taken in war. The sheep yielded them their wool, and the cattle their milk, and both of them their flesh. By the latter of these animals the land was tilled, and the corn trodden out; while the rulers and the judges, and even the kings of Israel, are carried by asses The horse is occasionally mentioned in the early period of the Israelitish commonwealth. No definite duty, however, is assigned to him; and it is said of the then monarch that “ He shall not multiply horses to himself.” There were two reasons for this: they were destined to be a peculiar people, preserving in the narrow confines of their country the knowledge and worship of the true God: therefore they were forbidden the means of wandering to other lands. The nature of their country likewise forbade the extensive breeding of the horse. It consisted, in a great measure of mountains, and was bounded on the west by the sea, and on three other sides by deserts. It was not until the time of Solomon, 500 years after the Israelites had left Egypt, that the horse was domesticated among them ; and then so rapidly did he increase, that Solomon had 1400 chariots and 12,000 cavalry, and stabling for 40,000 horses. The greater part of these horses were imported from Egypt. The sacred historian gives the price both of the chariots and the horses. It is the oldest document of the kind on record. The horse, includin'1' probably the expense of the journey, cost 150 shekels of silver or rather B 3 ’
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