52 LESSONS IN HORSE JUDGING. 



SO that if the neck and head were supported by 

 muscles, after a certain time, the head and neck 

 would drop. This is never the case, because they 

 are supported by the ligament we have been des- 

 scribing, which is made up of a congregation of 

 elastic fibres which are devoid of feeling, and 

 therefore are never tired and are quite as passive 

 as so much india rubber, that is, the ligament 

 stretches when anything stretches it and recoils 

 when the stretching force is removed. 



The next thing I must direct your attention to is 

 that the cordiform or upper part of the ligament is 

 broad at the top, and that the skin of the neck is 

 separated from it by a quantity of fat imbedded in 

 fibrous partitions. The amount of fat placed upon 

 this ligament varies greatly. In the clean, light 

 neck of the hunting gelding this fat is barely re- 

 presented, whilst in low-bred animals, in stallions, 

 and in those which have been castrated, after two 

 years of age or after the procreative organs have 

 assumed their functional activity, this fat and 

 fibrous tissue lying along the cordiform tendon on 

 the upper serface of the neck is of considerable 

 thickness and forms a ' crest.' It is of course best 

 seen in stallions, and gives their neck its peculiar 

 shape. In the heavy, soft cart horses which are 

 largely imported into this country from Belgium it 

 is also a prominent feature. Some colts are pur- 

 posely left till two 3^ears old before castration, on 

 purpose to develop this fat and * give them a neck,' 

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



