HOW TO KNOW HIM. 13 



The muzzle should be fine, and of a moderate length; 

 the mouth invariably deep for receiving and retaining 

 the bit ; and the lips rather thin, and firmly compressed. 

 A fine, tight lip is a pretty sure indication of an active 

 temperament, and consequently affords a measure of the 

 energy and durability of the animal. Horses with 

 short, thick, flabby lips, lying wide apart, are prover- 

 bial for sluggishness. The nostrils should be large, so 

 as to be capable, when open, of allowing the air to 

 have free access to the lungs. In conformity with the 

 uniform condition of the Creator's works, it will be 

 found that there is a direct relation between the de- 

 velopment of the nostrils and the capacity of the lungs 

 for air. Hence arises the necessity of observing the 

 size of the nostrils. Capacious lungs would be of no 

 use if the orifice which connects them with the exter- 

 nal atmosphere were so contracted that they could not 

 get properly filled. The race-horse must have very 

 wide and dilatable nostrils to admit a large volume of 

 air, with the utmost freedom and greatest speed, into 

 his widely and rapidly distended lungs ; but the horse 

 of slow work can take more time in his breathing, and 

 consequently does not require such a very large nostril 

 as the racer, hunter, or steeple-chaser. Care must 

 always be taken, recollect, not to confound a naturally 

 well-developed nostril with one which looks large in 

 consequence of having been kept in a state of perma- 

 nent distention by disease of the lungs or air-passages. 

 The muzzle ought to be fine a good way up ; and then 



