Book VII. ORGANOLOGY OF THE HORSE. 87 



55S7. Tlie marlcinf^s in the face are vscful to describe a horse by, and frequently lead to the recovery of 

 a strayed or stolen one. In regimental acrounts these marks are carefully noted. When a spot extends 

 down the face, it is termed a blaze ; and when further continued into the muzzle, it is called blaze and 

 snip. When a star is distinct, but with it there are white markings which begin some distance below it, 

 and are continued downwards, it is called a race. 



5588. The muzzle (h h) includes the lips, mouth, and nostrils ; the darker the colour of this part the 

 more is the horse esteemed : very dark brown horses are an exception, for in them it is usually of a tan 

 color, and is praised both as a beauty and indicative of excellence. 



5589. The lips should be thin, tirm, and by no means loose and pendulous, as is the case in very old or 

 very sluggish horses. 



5590. The form oftheinouth, as receiving the bit, is important. It is also of more consequence than is 

 usually supposed, that the commissureor opening of the mouth be sufficiently deep; when shallow, it is not 

 only inelegant, but it will not admit a bridle favorably into its pro|ier resting place upon the bars. Within 

 the mouth are situated the teeth, which are so placed as to have interrupted portions of jaw above and 

 below of considerable extent. These vacancies are called bars, anA are parts of extreme importance to 

 the horseman, as it is by means of agents called bits resting on these parts, and operating on their sensi- 

 bility by means of a lever, the long arm of which is in the hand of the rider, that he ensures obedience. 

 In aid oi' this mechanism, to one portion of this lever is attached a chain, called a curb, which acting 

 on the outer part of the chin, increases the pressure. This latter part has been called the barb or beard, but 

 its situation is evidently above that. In the examination of a horse intended to wear a bitted bridle, it is 

 also of considerable importance that both the bars and barbs should be thin, and not covered with thick 

 fleshy matter which deadens their sensibility. If scars or cicatrices are seen on them, particularly in the 

 bars, being the remains of former injuries, they in a great measure render the uth insensible, and 

 are greatly against the proper action of the bit ; and it is to be observed that a scar on one side is worse 

 than one on both. 



5591. The teeth {fig. 614.), which present themselves on the lower parts of the jaws, are the incisive 

 and canine. The two front incisives are popularly called nippers or /""^-n 

 gatherers (). The two next adjoining, separators or middle teeth (6), / \-^/A ^^^ 

 and the outer, the corners (r^ but it would be more definite to say the 

 first, second, and third incisives, begmning at the corner. The tusks 



or tushes (rf d) occupy part of the intermediate space between the ( ^\c 



incisive and grinding teeth. The teeth, as criteria of age, will be con- 

 sidered in another place, and as organs of digestion, they will be 

 further noticed in the anatomical detail. v / // X 



5592. The organs of the neck. The exterior parts which compose \j;-\ y^^J *^ 

 the neck are first the upper surface, which is furnished throughout its 

 whole extent with an elegant assemblage of hair called mane (e e). 



In some instances, as in stallions, it is of enormous length and thick. ^ -,_^.,^,_^^ ^ 



ness. In a cream-colored one exhibited some years ago, it was so long yr ^ 



as to bo .suspended in a bag. Nature appears particularly to have 

 studied the beauty of the animal by this gift ; had it been designed as a guard, it would have grown on 

 both sides : whereas when not altered bv art, as in cavalry horses, it naturally hangs to one side only. 

 In dark colored horses it is commonly black, but in horses of colors approaching to a light hue, the 

 reverse is frequently seen, and the mane and tail are in these often lighter than the body. 



5593. To make the hairs qf the mnne and tiil lie smooth is an object with most horsemen, but the pulling 

 the hair out in tufts by wrapping it round the fingers is a most erroneous practice, and not only at the 

 time frustrates the end intended, but a mane so pulled, will seldom hang well after. The writer of this 

 has always made use of a three-pronged angular mane puller, which, if used two or three times a week, 

 will bring both mane and tail into perfect order, and will keep them so. This iron is manufactured and 

 sold by Long, veterinary instrumeiit maker in Holborn, London. 



5594. The upper surf ace qf the neck { i ) ihouki form a moderate but elegant curve, which is greatly 

 favorable to beauty : this curve is however not so considerable in the pure eastern variety as in the better 

 sort of northern horse. 



5595. The under surface of the neck (k k) should be nearly straight ; in the cock throttled horse it 

 arches outwards, and the upper surface in these instances is sometimes hollowed inwards in equal pro- 

 portions, when such horse is called ewe-necked. When this deformity is considerable, it prevents the 

 head from being carried in its true angle, and particularly so under the action of the bridle; in which 

 cases the nose being projected forwards carries the axis o.' the eyes upwards, such horses are called star 

 gazers ; and it is to be observed that they are seldom safe goers. In mares and geldings a very just crite- 

 rion of a sluggi-sh disposition, may be formed from the presence of a considerable quantity of flesh on the 

 upper surface of the neck : when the crest is very thick and heavy, it is almost an unerring prognostic of 

 a decided sluggard. In stallions it however forms a distinctive sexual mark, and therefore is less to be 

 dei)ended upon in them. In a well proportioned horse, the length of the neck, the length of the head, 

 and of the angle uniting the two, should give the height of the withers from the ground. When 

 the neck is too long, the head must of course gravitate by the increased length of the arm of the 

 balance; it likewise seldom presents a firm or proper resistance to the bridle. Wben on the contrary 

 the neck is too short, the head is frequently ill placed, and the lever in the hand of the rider will be 

 too short also. 



5596. The organs of the trunk or carcase are various. Considered as a whole, Clark 

 has not unaptly likened it, when separated from the limbs, to a boat; within which are 

 disposed various important viscera. The bony ribs he likens to the wooden ones encom- 

 passing the vessel, and the sternum or breast bone, being perpendicularly deep and 

 thin, carries the resemblance further, and fits the machine to cleave the air as the boat 

 does the water. Within this animal vessel, according with the justest mechanical 

 principles, the weightiest of the viscerae, the liver is placed in the centre, and the 

 others follow nearly in the relative order of their grayity ; so that the lungs, the lightest 

 of the whole, are slowed in front, where great weight would have been most disadvan- 

 tageous. 



5597. The shoulders (a a, b b) are commonly considered as extending from the withers above to the point 

 in front, and to the line behind formed from the elbow upwards : but a correct description considers them 

 as those parts immediately concerned in motion ; that is, of the scapula or blade-bone, and its attachments. 

 The shoulders are too apt to be confounded with the withers above, and with the arm below, erroneously 

 'calletl the point of the shoulders. From this confusion, great error is committed in appreciating their 

 nature and action; but this is removed by recourse to the skeleton (fig. 615 i,k,l). Thewither.s- {e e) 

 jnay be justly proportioned at the same time that the shoulders are narrow, straight, and altogether badly 

 formed, and vice versa. The shoulders should be muscular and narrow, but not heavy ; and to de- 

 termine between these essential points, requires the eye of experience in the viewer, and the presence 

 'f condition in the viewed. A muscular shoulder is essentially necessary, when we consider that 



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