358 CONDITION AND GOOD LOOKS. 



strong gallop has the effect of making a horse unusually 

 thirsty, we may doubt that his lungs are in good order. 

 To find out, in doubtful cases, whether or not a horse 

 is a roarer, we had best, immediately after the animal 

 has done some fast or severe work, apply the ear close 

 to one of his nostrils. 



Large calibre and thinness of the walls of the nostrils, 

 which condition predisposes a horse to " high blowing," 

 is a sign that the animal's organs of breathing are naturally 

 good. 



4. Signs of condition manifested by the state of the 

 sweat. — The fatter a horse is, the thicker and more 

 greasy will be his sweat. When a horse is in condition, 

 his sweat will come off like water, will have lost the 

 saline taste it previously had, and, unless the animal 

 is in a state of excitement, it will dry on the skin 

 with extreme quickness, as soon as the work which 

 has opened the pores has been stopped. If a horse 

 which has no excess of fat in his system, shows a 

 tendency to sweat on a very slight provocation of work 

 or " closeness " of atmosphere, and if the perspiration 

 thus induced, takes a long time to dry on the surface of 

 the body, we may reasonably conclude that general weak- 

 ness is the cause of this excessive action of the skin. 

 When a horse sweats from excitement (as on a race- 

 course), the surface of the body thus moistened will 

 not dry quickly ; for as long as the excitement lasts, 

 the outpouring of the fluid will more or less continue. 



Good Looks. —Beauty in the horse is dependent : — 



1. On the uniformity of type which the various parts of 

 the body bear to each other. Thus, a Shire or Clydesdale 

 horse, with his Roman nose and loaded shoulders, may 

 be quite as handsome as a good-looking English thorough- 

 bred, or a showy, high-caste Arab. 



2. On the artistic arrangement of the lines of his body. 

 We may see the importance of this from a beauty point 



