3 THE HORSE. 
ear should be of medium size, not too small, ner too large, nor should it 
be lopped, though many good lop-eared horses have been known, ‘and 
some very superior breeds, like that of the celebrated Melbourne, are 
notorious for this defect. 
Tur Neck should be of moderate length, all beyond a certain dimension 
being waste, and even a moderate-sized head at the end of an extremely 
long lever being too much for the muscles to support. It should come out 
full and muscular, with a sweep between the withers and the bosom, and 
should gradually diminish till it runs into the head, with an elegant bend 
just behind the ear. A very narrow throat suddenly bent at the upper 
part, marked as the thropple, is apt to be connected with roaring, and on 
that account is objected to by horsemen. 
Ty THE Fore-quarter, there are several points to be attentively ex- 
amined, and among these, the shoulder is regarded as of most consequence, 
when the horse under consideration is intended for the saddle. It is 
evident that, unless there is length of the blade, and also of the true arm, 
there cannot be a full surface for the attachment and play of the muscles, 
nor can there be the same amount of spring to take off the jar which follows 
each footfall. The straighter the angle formed by the long axis of each 
of these bones, the less spring there will be. So, also, if the angle is not 
sufficient, the muscles of the shoulder-blade will not thrust forward the 
true arm, nor will the latter be sufficiently clothed with muscles (withou* 
being loaded) to act on the fore-arm, commonly known by the horseman 
as the arm. Hence it is found, that with an upright shoulder, not only 
is the stride in all the paces short and the action stumpy, but there is not 
that elastic movement which enables the horse to carry his body along 
rapidly and evenly, without rising alternately behind and before, and 
thereby jarring himself or his rider. On the other hand, the upright 
shoulder, loaded with a thick mass of muscles, is useful in the cart-horse, 
and to a certain extent also, in the carriage-horse, in both of which the 
pressure of the collar requires a steady and comparatively motionless sur- 
face to bear it. The difference between the two extremes of oblique and 
upright shoulders is well illustrated in the accompanying woodcut, in which 
it will be seen that in the former the angle between the blade (a) and the 
true arm (6) is very considerable, while in the latter it is much less. 
Hence it results, that when the muscles of the blade bring the axis of the 
arm into nearly the same line with its own axis, the forearm (e) in the 
oblique shoulder will be thrust forward and raised to a greater degree 
than in the upright formation, as is shown in the engraving in the parts 
represented by dotted lines (d e). It follows, therefore, that horses intended 
to have high, and at the same time forward, action should have oblique 
shoulders, for without them they will almost to a certainty either have 
very mean and low action, or, if they do bend their knees, they will put 
their feet down again nearly on the same place as they took them from, 
which peculiarity we so often see displayed in the cart breed, or those 
nearly allied to it. This is one of the most important uses of the 
obliquity of the shoulder blade as it seems to me, and one which has not 
been generally admitted by writers on this branch of the subject, though 
all are ready to admit that in some way or other this formation is essential 
to good action. Another reason for the obliquity of the shoulder in the 
riding-horse, is that without it the saddle is not kept back in its proper 
place, and the horseman’s weight being thus thrown too forward, the action 
of the fore-quarter is impeded. Mere obliquity, however, is not sufficient for 
this purpose ; for, without a proper development of muscle, the blade itself 
