NECK 



■17 



distance, and therefore to raise the limb con'espondingly high and bring 

 it into position for the execution of a great forward strol^e. Carried 

 in a low depending position, the head displaces the centre of gravity 

 forwards, encumbers the fore-limbs, diminishes both speed and action, and 

 robs the horse of the most elegant feature of his fore end. 



NECK 



Apart from any consideration of mechanical advantage which it may 

 confer on a horse as a living motor, a good neck is an attractive feature in 

 every variety, from the 

 smallest pony to the 

 heaviest " shire ". It is, 

 however, in the driving- 

 horse and the saddle- 

 horse that the special 

 elegance and beauty 

 which it is capable of 

 imparting are more es- 

 pecially demanded; but 

 it must be observed that 

 in associating these two 

 types it is not intended 

 to convey the idea that 

 the configuration of neck 

 best suited to the one 

 would be ecjually ap- 

 propriate to the other, 

 nor that either would 

 be adapted to the horse 

 of heavy draught. On 

 the contrary, in each 

 case the neck must be 

 constructed to meet the special purposes for which the animal is intended. 



The form of the neck, as everyone knows, varies very considerably in 

 diiferent animals, and also in the same animal at different periods of life; 

 hence it is designated arched (Plate I, fig. 2) when the upper border 

 describes a convexity along its whole length from the poll to the withers; 

 sivan-neck (fig. 40) when the curve is confined, as in the neck of the 

 swan, to the superior part; straight (fig. 41) when the superior and inferior 

 borders are rectilinear; and cive-ncck (fig. 42) when the upper border is 



Y\g 40 —Swan Neck 



