228 DEAUGHT AND HAENESS. 



bore down still more heavily on his fore legs than 

 would be otherwise necessary, but it also tends 

 directly, from the obliquity of the pressure of the 

 collar on the shoulder, to wrinkle up the ^.skin, and 

 produce injuries. The ill effect of these acute angles 

 becomes still more strikingly apparent when we con- 

 trast with them the dotted line x y, which represents 

 the position of a trace attached to the centre of the 

 collar and at right angles with it, and therefore lying 

 nearly in the direction in which the effort made by the 

 hind legs is brought to bear on the collar. 



This is perhaps the best opportunity for saying a 

 word about the dimensions of the collar, because it is 

 quite clear that if the angle of traction be in a wrong 

 direction either way, and tend to pull the collar up- 

 wards or downwards, one might go on indefinitely 

 lengthening it without being ever able to counteract 

 the evil effects on the horse's neck or shoulder. And 

 it is so much the more important to keep this steadily 

 in view, because it is a well-known practical iiile that 

 a somewhat too small, especially too tight, collar is 

 much less likely to do serious mischief than one that 

 is too large, especially too long, for it will then slip 

 about from place to place, and wound in all directions. 



We now come to the shape of the collar. The great 

 mistake commonly made by harness-makers is, that 

 they think more of producing a symmetrical oval 

 figure that pleases the eye, than of keeping the lines 

 of a horse's neck and shoulders in view ; and the 

 consequence is very frequently that the collar is 

 much too narrow at its under part in proportion to 

 what it is somewhat higher up, whereas it should be 

 trom 1 to IJ inch wider at its base than anywhere 



