88 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



component parts and an abundance of connective tissue always denote 

 a soft, lymphatic temperament and a common ancestry. 



The head is termed gross or coarse when it is defective from an 

 excess of all its dimensions, owing its volume more particularly to the 

 great development of its bony framework. The objections to this con- 

 formation are the same as to that of the long head. It is admissible, 

 however, with the same restrictions that we made when speaking of the 

 length of the head. In the draught-horse it is not a defect, because his 

 power depends, in a great measure, upon his weight, and not so much 

 upon the rapidity and extent of his movements ; also because it tends 

 to fix the anterior part of the body when the muscles contract. 



The head is designated fleshy or plain when, in addition to grossness, 

 there is an almost complete effacement of the blood-vessels, nerves, and 

 osseous and muscular protuberances in consequence of the thickness of 

 the skin and subcutaneous tissue, as well as of the diminution of the 

 bony processes themselves. It reveals a weak constitution, a lymphatic 

 temperament, and all the predispositions to which the latter is heir. 



It is called senile or sharp when it appears emaciated from atrophy 

 and absorption of the adipose tissue and of the muscles. The emi- 

 nences of the bones, such as the maxillary spine, become quite con- 

 spicuous, the supra-orbit is hollow, the eye is deeply embedded in its 

 orbit, the cheek flat, the face depressed over the maxillary sinuses, and 

 the skin seems attached to the bones. In a word, it presents all the 

 characteristics of advanced age and exhaustion from extreme usage. 



It must not be confounded with the senile head proper, of which 

 we will speak further on. 



D. Direction of the Head. 



The long axis of the head may assume three principal positions 

 relative to the vertical line : the oblique, the horizontal and the vertical. 

 The last two qualifications are not to be taken literally, but as express- 

 ing an approximation to the vertical and horizontal positions. 



The head has a good as well as a natural direction when it ex- 

 tends obliquely from above to below, from before to behind, and forms, 

 with the ground surface, an angle of about 45 degrees. The horse is 

 thereby enabled to distinguish perfectly objects placed before him ; he 

 is enabled to avoid them, and is less likely to stumble and fall. It 

 is also necessary to add that the bit has a suitable point of support upon 

 the bars, since the insertion of the reins or the lines is more perpen- 

 dicular to *the branches of the lower jaw, which represent the arm of a 



