Book VII. ORGANOLOGY OF THE HORSE. 



957 



6260. The teeth (fig. 829.), which present themselves on the lower parts of the jaws are the incisive 



and canine. The two front incisives are popularly 'called nippers or 

 gatherers (a) ; the two next adjoining, separators or middle teeth (b) ■ 

 and the outer, the corners (c) ; but it would be more definite to say the 

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

 or tushes (dd) occupy part of the intermediate space between the incisive 

 and grinding teeth. The teeth, as criteria of age, will be considered in 

 another place, and as organs of mastication, they will be further noticed 

 in the anatomical detail. 



6261. The organs of the neck. The exterior parts which compose the 

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

 extent with an elegant assemblage of hair called mane (fig. 828. e e). In 

 some instances, as in stallions, it is of enormous length and thickness. 

 In dark-coloured horses it is commonly black, but in horses of colours 

 approaching to a light hue the reverse is frequently seen, and the mane 

 and tail are in these often lighter than the body. 



6262. To make the hnirs of the mane and tail 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 instrument maker in Holborn, London. 



6263. The upper surface of the neck (i) should form a moderate but elegant curve, which is greatly 

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

 sort of northern horse. 



626+. 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 ol the bridle ; in which 

 case the nose being projected forwards, carries the axis of 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 cri- 

 terion of a sluggish disposition, maybe 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 

 depended 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. When, 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. 



6265. 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 viscera, the liver, is placed in the centre, and the 

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

 of the whole, are stowed in front, where great weight would have been most disad- 

 vantageous. 



6266. 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, 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 

 called 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. 830. i,k, I). The withers (e e) may 

 be justly proportioned at the same time that the shoulders may be 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 of 

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

 extremities are wholly connected by muscle, and not as in man, by the intervention of the bony union of 

 the clavicle or collar bone. In the horse, therefore, we find that large muscular masses unite the shoulder 

 blade, by its upper and inner surfaces, to the chest ; while other powerful muscles suspend as it were the 

 machine between them. By this contrivance, elasticity is preserved and strength gained; for had the 

 shoulders possessed a bony connection, when the body is propelled forwards, its weight and force being 

 received by the fore extremities, painful and hurtful shocks would have been experienced at every step. 

 Powerful muscles for the shoulders are also as necessary for progression as for attachment. It is not 

 therefore with judgment that a very thin meagre shoulder is commonly preferred. It is by the union 

 of strength with just proportions, and a proper situation of the parts, that the value of the animal is 

 determined. 



6267. The centre of action in the shoulders (c) is in their common centre, and the extent of aition of 

 any part moving on its centre, is dependent on the length of such part ; the motion the shoulder enjoys 

 is confined to the perpendicular backwards, and to as great an elevation of the muscles as they will admit 

 of forwards. It will be therefore evident that the more oblique is the situation of the shoulder blade, 

 the greater number of degrees it can go through ; it must be as evident also that when the shoulder blade 

 is long and deep, as well as oblique, that this advantage is increased. It is commonly observed, although 

 it is not invariably the case, that when the shoulder is short, it is also upright (b b). Obliquity and 

 length in the shoulder favour the safety of the progression also : for as the angles formed between the 

 shoulder, the arm, and fore-arm, are consentaneous, and make, when in action, a bony arch ; so the 

 obliquity and length of the shoulders is favourable to a due elevation of the limb, on which, in a great 

 degree, depends the safety of progression. Thus mares are, ceteris paribus, more unsafe than horses, 

 their shoulders being short to correspond with the low mare-like forehand ; and their decreased obliquity 

 usually regulates an increased obliquity in the whole limb downwards, or as is familiarly expressed, they 

 stand with their legs under them. Unfavourable as is this form of the mare, both for the speed and safety 

 of their action, it was given for advantageous purposes : for, by such a position in the lore extremities, the 

 hinder are raised higher to afford additional security against the evils of gravitation and dislodgement of 

 the foal from the pelvis. Few rules can be laid down in the exterior conformation that are more important, 

 or of such general application, as that a short and upright shoulder, particularly when united with an 



