90 



THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



position relative to the increase of speed, of which we will speak 

 later, there are at the same time some disadvantages. The horse can- 

 not so easily recognize objects immediately about him ; he cannot 

 appreciate as well the nature of the surface over which he travels, 

 and is more likely to stumble and fall. The most serious defect which 

 this direction entails is that the bit cannot act perpendicularly to the 

 bars. All the traction exercised on the bit tends to retract the com- 

 missures of the lips and carry it against the first molars. The teeth 

 may now grasp the bit, the animal may become uncontrollable, and is 

 then said to have taken the bit. 



It is to be remarked, from another point of view, that in the hori- 

 zontal position of the head the extensors attach at an obtuse angle, an 

 incidence unfavorable to contraction ; the attachment of the flexors, on 

 the other hand, is at an acute angle, also a less favorable incidence 

 (Fig. 29, A). 



Fig. 29. 



This carriage of the head, when habitual, is nearly always accom- 

 panied by a concavity or reversing of the neck. In such cases, as 

 Professor Lesbre^ thinks, the articular relations between the atlas 

 and the axis will assume the normal condition most appropriate 

 for the execution of all the movements. These would be extremely 

 limited in extension if the cervical axis did not curve itself. Anat- 

 omy also explains that lateral inclination of the head in such an 

 elevated attitude becomes almost impossible, because its production 



1 Lesbre, Communication orale. 



