16 HORSES AND RIDING. 



The neck should be arched above and hollowed 

 out below, and there should be a natural bend in 

 it, so that when a horse holds his head up a good 

 height, his nose is still nearly perpendicularly below 

 his eyes, so that the horse is looking straight before 

 him ; this is what is meant by saying that a horse's 

 head is well set on. If a horse's neck curves the 

 wrong way and he lifts his head up high, he will be 

 staring straight up in the sky, and his nose will be 

 on a level with the roots of his ears. 



I believe it would be found on measurement that 

 a horse's neck is at right angles to the inclination 

 of his shoulder, and that the more a horse's shoulder 

 slopes the higher the top of his head would be when 

 at rest in a natural position. If this be the case it 

 would be one way of judging of a horse's shoulder, 

 to notice how high he carried his head when stand- 

 ing in an easy position, and the higher he carried 

 his head the better his shoulder would be. The top 

 of a horse's neck, where the mane grows, should be 

 thick and hard, and the mane itself thin and light. 



"We now come to one of the most important 

 parts, viz. the shoulder, and there is nothing which 

 is more puzzling to a beginner, and which good judges 

 differ more about. Thus, a novice is shown a horse 

 and told that he has a good shoulder, and finds out 

 that another horse with a similar shoulder has not 

 got good action when he comes to ride it. The 

 reason of this is. that the shoulder he has had 



