THE DRAFT BREEDS OF HORSES 



41 



much criticized because of their flatness and brittleness, 

 but have undergone great improvement in these respects. 

 The head is clean-cut, with small ear, full forehead, and 

 a more or less Roman nose. The neck is full, with a very 

 strong crest, as a rule, in stallions. Too much thickness 

 in the throat-latch sometimes results from undue coarse- 

 ness of the neck. The shouldeT shows good length and 

 is of true draft form, not being too oblique. The chest 

 is deep, wide and 

 molded with muscle. 

 The body or barrel, 

 one of the leading 

 points of merit in this 

 breed, is deep, round- 

 ribbed, and specially 

 well let down in the 

 hind flank. This un- 

 doubtedly contributes 

 to the strength of the 

 assertion that the Suf- 

 folk is an easy keeper, and of unusual endurance. The 

 legs, devoid of long hair, are clean-cut, cordy and well 

 muscled at the arms and thighs. The degree to which 

 the Suffolk is muscled in the hind-quarters, and especially 

 in the lower thighs, is one of the special features of the 

 breed. Pulling contests at an early time were common 

 among the adherents of the breed, and it is said that the 

 ultimate outcome of these has been to develop the muscles 

 of the thigh and the quarter much beyond what is com- 

 monly observed in the representatives of the draft breeds. 

 The seeming lightness of limb, compared with the depth 

 and weight of body, and fullness of neck, has, in many 

 cases, given the Suffolk an appearance of being greatly 



FIG. 7. Suffolk stallion. 



