'In the case in which one of these faults exists there would be no further question of establishing by its geometrical length the proportions of the other parts. Give up this common measure, and measure the height or the length of the body; divide the length or the height into five equal portions; take, then, two of these divisions, divide them into _primes_, _seconds_, and _points_, corresponding to the divisions and subdivisions which you would have made of the head, and you will have a common measure, such as the head would have given you if it had been proportionate.'[39] [39] Bourgelat, _loc. cit._, p. 135. [Illustration: FIG. 106.--THE PROPORTIONS OF THE HORSE (AFTER BOURGELAT). _To face p. 265._] We understand, up to a certain point, that Bourgelat may have been able to give this advice which, generally speaking, is sufficiently practical, since, in certain cases, he was able to pronounce that such a head was too small or too large. But it is always mischievous, with regard to the effect produced on the reader, to propose to him, in the application of a rule, to suppress the foundation on which this rule is established. Besides, even if all the measurements compared with the two-fifths of the length of the body are proportionate with regard to one another, the animal, in spite of this, since the head must be taken into consideration, will, in a strict sense, be none the less disproportioned. The proportions given by Bourgelat are as follows[40] (Fig. 106): [40] _Ibid._, p. 136, and onward. 1. =Three geometrical lengths of the head= give: _The full height_ of the horse, reckoned from the forelock to the ground on which he rests, provided that the head be well placed.[41] [41] By 'the head being well placed,' Bourgelat means 'vertically posed,' the outline of the forehead then coinciding with a vertical line, which at the other end touches the anterior portion of the nose. 2. =Two heads and a half= (B)[42] equals: [42] The letters in parentheses relate to the corresponding measures marked by the same letters on the third diagram of Fig. 106. _The height of the body_ from the summit of the withers to the ground. _The length of the same body_, those of the forehand and of the hind-quarter taken as a whole from the point of the arm to the point of the buttock inclusive. 3. =An entire head= (A) gives: _The length of the forepart_ from the summit of the withers to the termination of the neck. _The height of the shoulders_ from the summit of the elbow to the top of the withers. _The thickness of the body_ from the middle of the belly to the middle of the back. _The width_ from one side to the other. 4. =A head measured from the top of the forelock to the commissure of the lips= (C). This measurement slightly curtailed, unless the mouth is very deeply cleft, equals: