CHAPTEE II. 



THE NECK THE HEAD THE MOUTH THE TONGUE 



CARRIAGE FEELING. 



WE have spoken of the horse's neck as "being a lever, 

 which of course, strictly speaking, supposes it to form 

 nearly a straight line, and to possess only a very limited 

 amount of flexibility, neither of which properties, in 

 fact, perfectly belong to it.* But a well-shaped neck, 

 well clothed with firm muscles, possesses both straight- 

 ness and inflexibility sufficient to render it possible 

 to apply to it the theory of lever action with perfect 

 propriety. Such a neck will only deviate from the 

 straight line to any considerable amount near its point 

 of junction with the head, this latter also acting as a 

 lever, and imparting to the whole that graceful curva- 

 ture so pleasing to the eye even of the uninitiated 

 which is, however, not merely a matter of taste, being, 

 in fact, an evidence of perfection of equilibrium and 

 power. 



It is scarcely necessary to say that there are almost 

 infinite varieties of necks to be found amongst horses 

 as regards these two very important items of straight- 



* The horse's neck really forms a double curve, one being turned 

 upward, the other downward ; the mechanical action results in a 

 straight line forming the axis of the whole. 



