128 BITS AND BITTING. 



from this that small heads confer of themselves the 

 opposite quality ; in truth, more depends on the ^Yay 

 in which the head is set on to the neck, the make 

 and proportions of the latter, and the facility thereby 

 afforded for assuming a great variety of positions, than 

 on the absolute size of the head itself. 



Generally speaking, all our British breeds have well- 

 formed and well-proportioned limbs. Irish horses, 

 however, have frequently large ones, and what is of 

 still greater importance, peculiarities of conformation 

 which, in consequence of ignorance and injudicious 

 management, sometimes tend directly to produce res- 

 tiveness, or other equally unpleasant results. 



It wiU be well at this point to call attention to a 

 very simple mechanical principle connected with lever 

 action — namely, that the effect produced depends not 

 only on the absolute power applied, but also on the 

 direction in which this is done. For instance, consider- 

 ing the horse's head as a lever which is to act on the 

 neck and bring it towards the rider's hand, it is very 

 exident that if the former be so stretched out as to 

 form, as it were, a continuation of the latter, as we see 

 race-horses coming into the post, there is, in fact, no 

 lever action whatever. In the same manner, if we can 

 imagine the horse's chin to be brought under, so as to 

 touch his neck, there would be very little, if any, lever 

 action. This is greatest when the head is at a right 

 angle with the neck ; and the more it departs fi'om this 

 line, — either forwards, when the animal pokes out its 

 nose — or to the rear, when, in consequence of severe 

 bitting, or other causes to which we shall presently 

 advert, it touches its breast with its chin, — the less 

 will be the useful lever action on the neck. 



