110 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



exposed in the centre, it is soiled by particles of fodder and dust. It 

 is difficult to preserve cleanliness, and the parts become the seat of such 

 affections as herpes and psoriasis, which persist with so much tenacity 

 that it is sometimes impossible to eradicate them completely. 



In their natural condition, as we have already mentioned, the hairs 

 fall from their own weight. They are in certain cases cut so as to 

 assume an erect direction and form a sort of crest on the median line, 

 outlining the convexity of the neck more distinctly and making the 

 latter appear heavier. Such is the custom with ponies and small 

 horses, and particularly those in which the neck is reversed, witii the 

 view of rendering its appearance more agreeable to the eye. To-day 

 this is the fashion even in the teams of the wealthy. 



Among the ancients it appears to have been the custom to cut the 

 mane as a sign of mourning. To render it thicker and longer, the 

 Arabs of Algeria, according to Vallon,^ also employed this method 

 for from one to four years, and sometimes even throughout the life of 

 the animal. 



The hairs of the mane, like those of the tail, are ordinarily 

 straight. One of our associates, Mercier, has communicated a remark 

 on this subject, which was also believed by the Arabians : that it is in 

 the white or gray horses with frizzled or curly hairs in which melanotic 

 tumors are always found in the interior of the body, although none may 

 have any apparent trace on the exterior, particularly under the tail 

 and around the anus. This remark, the correctness of which we 

 have verified a number of times, both on the living subject and in the 

 cadaver, is very important because of the dangers to which animals 

 affected with melanosis are predisposed. 



There are neither diseases nor blemishes of the mane. It is there- 

 fore erroneous to attribute to this appendage what properly belongs to 

 the superior border of the neck. 



6. The forelock is nothing more, properly speaking, than the 

 superior extremity of the mane. It consists of a tuft of hairs varying 

 in length with the animal and the race, which escapes between the 

 ears in floating meshes, overshadowing the forehead and the eyes. 

 Ordinarily, in the English thoroughbred horse it is light, fine, and 

 silky. In the Arabian horse it is, on the contrary, long and heavy. 

 In common horses it is long and coarse. Like the mane, it may be 

 single or double. All proportions being preserved, it is most developed 

 in Oriental horses. At the same time that it is an ornament to the 



1 Vallon, Cours d'hippologie, tome i. p. 330. 



