On 15 April 1823, Delacroix wrote in his Journal, 'Il faut absolument se mettre à faire des chevaux, aller dans une écurie tous les matins', E. Delacroix, Journal, Paris, 1930, I, p. 37. Escholier and Robert mention that for a long time afterward the artist went to the ring to study horses. The present sheet is datable to the years around 1823-5. Similar studies of legs of horses appears in the folios 42 recto, 42 verso and 44 recto of Album 1745 at the Louvre, M. Serullaz and L.-A. Prat, Dessins d'Eugène Delacroix, Paris, 1984, II, pp. 298-9, illustrated