86 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



This study will not be complete without a glance at the different 

 parts as a whole, purposely reserved for a special chapter. This syn- 

 thetical study will enable us to perceive much more easily the harmo- 

 nious relations which should exist among them ; it will furnish us 

 also with an opportunity of examining the head, as to its length, volume, 

 direction, general form, attachments to the neck, movements, and their 

 influence upon the displacement of the centre of gravity, and, finally, the 

 expression. 



A. Harmonious Relations of the Head. 



M. Richard * was the first to insist, with detail, upon the fact that 

 the relation of construction of the different regions seems to be- 

 much more intimate in the head than in any other portion of the 

 body. It is, he says, not rare to see, for example, a very beautiful 

 hock associated with a defective haunch, a good shoulder with a 

 defective croup, withers well made with loins concave and badly 

 attached, a narrow chest with limbs strong and well formed, etc. 



Inharmonious proportions are infinitely less common in the head. 

 Thus, large nostrils, well-situated eyes, ears widely separated, and a 

 large intermaxillary space coexist nearly always with a wide forehead ; 

 whilst a narrow forehead implies, in most horses, large ears, placed 

 high and approaching each other, eyes but partly open, small nostrils, 

 and a narrow intermaxillary space. The fineness and mobility of the 

 ears and of the eyelids, the amplitude of the nostrils, the thinness of 

 the lips, the vivacity of the eyes, and the intelligent expression of the 

 physiognomy, are beauties which ordinarily coexist. 



It follows, then, that a good or a bad conformation of one part 

 naturally permits a good or a bad disposition of another. Beauty of 

 the forehead is not associated with narrowness of the nose ; that of the 

 nostrils with narrowness of the intermaxillary space ; the intelligent ex- 

 pression of a beautiful eye with stupidity of the remainder of the face. 



In a general way, it is correct to say that the beauties and de- 

 fects of the head correlate themselves in a manner almost absolute ; 

 but we must remember that there are some subjects in which these 

 relations are defective. Therefore, in selecting a horse, such a desir- 

 able quality as a wide forehead should not of itself be regarded as 

 conclusive of general excellence. If the harmony be in nature, it is 

 often destroyed by man, who modifies the natural conditions of existence 

 of the domestic animals. 



i A. Richard, Etude du cheval, 5e 6d., 1874, p. 127. 



