OF THE HORSE. 17 



little or no bend, certainly less play, and the head is pro- 

 truded as though the unfortunate horse were afflicted with 

 a stiff neck. On the other hand, the head of the blood- 

 horse is full of play ; it requires small force in his rider to 

 draw the chin towards the chest. The motion is elastic ; it 

 has all the ease and grace of a lady's hand ; and the neck, 

 which joins the head, has all the freedom and beauty of line 

 to be detected in the most captivating woman's wrist. 



The ears are not to be overlooked. One ear forward, and 

 the other carried backward, is a good sign of endurance, 

 when the liorse is on a journey, for it shows the animal is 

 attentive to every thing passing around him. Both ears 

 laid backward, in the stable or elsew^iere, upon the approach 

 of a stranger, is generally a sign of vice. This statement, 

 however, is not to be applied universally, as the action may 

 be the result of nervousness or timidity. Where it is 

 displayed, however, the stranger had better speak to the 

 groom before he ventures to approach. Any unnatural 

 degree of activity in the ears denotes blindness. If the 

 ears are altogether stationary the animal may be suspected 

 of deafness. After all, an easy motion, neither restless nor 

 sluggish, is to be wished for, and the ears should be rather 

 small than large ; and above all things they should not fall 

 down on one side, or be in any degree lopped. 



The eyes should be very particularly attended to in an 

 exterior examination of a horse : the globe should be full and 

 prominent, wdth a thin surface of eyelid. When it is small, 

 or sunken within an orbit and surrounded by much mem- 

 branous substance, or a swollen lid, such an eye is found more 

 prone to inflammation than the former one. It is prudent, 

 however, to guard against too great a convexity of the globe, 

 which now and then does actually exist, and probably renders 

 the horse shortsighted. The eyes should always be ex- 

 amined in the shade: no better situation can be chosen 

 than that the head of the horse be pointed outwards, but 

 that his eyes remain half a foot within a stable door. The 

 light now falling directly on the eye, will enable every defect 

 to be readily seen. Viewed in front, the depths of the eye 

 should be first looked into : the position of the looker should 

 be then changed, and it should be viewed sideways, still 

 from within the stable, which will much assist to ascertain 



c 



