MUSCLES AND PROPER FORM OF THE NECK. 



159 



perfect neck. It is rather a long neck, and we do not like it the less for that. In the 



carriage-horse, a neck that is not half 

 concealed by the collar is indispensable, 

 so far as appearance ^oes ; and it is only 

 the horse with a neck of tolerable length 

 that will bear to be reined up, so as to 

 give this part the arched and beautiful 

 appearance which fashion demands. It 

 is no detriment to the riding-horse, and 

 there are few horses of extraordinary 

 speed that have not the neck rather long. 

 The race-horse at the top of his speed 

 not only extends it as far as he can, that 

 the air-passages may be as straight as 

 he can make them, and that he may 

 therefore be able to breathe more freely, 

 but the weight of the head and neck, and 

 the effect increasing with their distance 

 from the trunk, add materially to the 

 rapidity of the animal's motion. It has 

 been said, that a horse with a long neck 

 will bear heavy on the hand ; neither the 

 length of the neck nor even the bulk of the head has any influence in causing this. 

 They are both counterbalanced by the power of the ligament of the neck. The set- 

 ting on of the head is most of all connected with heavy bearing on the hand, and a 

 short-necked horse will bear heavily, because, from the thickness of the lower part 

 of the neck, consequent on its shortness, the head cannot be rightly placed, nor, gene- 

 rally, the shoulder. 



Connected with the spknius muscle, and partly produced by it, are the thickness 

 and muscularity of the neck, as it springs from the shoulders, in this cut; the height 

 at which it comes out from them forming nearly a line with the withers ; and the 

 manner in which it tapers as it approaches the head. The neck of a well-formed 

 horse, however fine at the top, should be muscular at the bottom, or the horse will 

 generally be weak and worthless. Necks devoid of this muscularity are called loose 

 necks by horsemen, and are always considered a very serious objection to the animal. 

 If the neck is thin and lean at the upper part, and is otherwise well shaped, the horse 

 will usually carry himself well, and the head will be properly' curved for beauty of 

 appearance and ease of riding. When an instance to the contrary occurs, it is to be 

 traced to very improper management, or to the space between the jaws being unna- 

 turally small. 



The splenitis muscle, although a main agent in raising the head and neck, may be 

 loo large, or covered with too much cellular substance or fat, thus giving an appear- 

 ance of heaviness, or even clumsiness to the neck. This peculiarity of form consti- 

 tutes the distinction between the perfect horse and the mare, and also the gelding, 

 unless castrated at a very late period. 



This tendon, c, belongs also to another muscle, which makes up the principal bulk 

 of the lower part of the neck, and is called the complexiis mnJDr, or larger complicated 

 muscle. It arises partly as low as the transverse processes of the four or five first 

 bones of the back, and from the five lower bones of tlie neck; and the fibres from 

 these various sources uniting together, form a very large and powerful muscle, the 

 largest and strongest in the neck. As it approaches the head, it lessens in h\ilk, and 

 terminates partly with the splenius, in this tendon, but is principally inserted into the 

 back part of the occipital bone, by the side of the ligament of the neck. In the cut, 

 p. 125, almost its whole course can be distinctly traced. Its office is to raise the neck 

 and elevate the head ; and being inserted into such a part of the occiput, it will more 

 particularly protrude the nose, while it raises the head. Its action, however, may be 

 too powerful ; it may be habitualh^ so, and then it may produce deformity. The back 

 of the head being pulled back, and the muzzle protruded, the horse cannot by possi- 

 bility carry his head well. He will become what is technically called a star-gazer; 



