LESSONS IN HORSE JUDGING. 69 



heavy, soft cart horses which are largely im- 

 ported into Great Britain from Belgium it is also 

 a prominent feature. Some colts are purposely 

 left till two years old before castration, on pur- 

 pose to develop this fat and ^give them a neck,' 

 as it is called. The quantity of this fibro-fatty 

 substance in the neck principally, but not en- 

 tirely, makes the difference between a gross 

 ^fleshy' neck, and a fine clean neck, and when 

 it is stated that there is no strength in this fibro- 

 fatty mass, it need hardly be added that a clean, 

 light muscular neck is as powerful as a gross, 

 thick, heavy neck, which is largely made so by 

 this stored up fat; only, of course, the possessor 

 of the latter can throw more weight into a collar, 

 and is so far preferable for draught purposes. 

 Besides judging of the quantity of this fibro-fatty 

 structure by the sight, you can grasp the top of 

 the neck, feel its thickness, and shake it from 

 side to side. 



41. — On each side of this ligament there are 

 powerful muscles which fill up this upper trian- 

 gular space and get attached to the bones of the 

 neck, especially to the last five of these. We 

 have seen that the bones of the spinal column 

 have little movement individually, but collect- 

 ively the column has considerable movement, 

 which we likened to the wriggling of an eel. 

 There are very small muscles which stretch from 

 every bone of the column to the next bone in 

 front of it, and are said to ' clothe ' the spinal 

 column. These muscles of themselves cause the 

 wriggling movement of the column. The col- 



