HEAD IN GENERAL. 93 



different subdivisions and facilitate their description. This compari- 

 son is not sufficient to specify clearly certain conformations which must 

 be described, and to which have been given particular names. 



1 . The head is called straight when its anterior face is rectilinear in 

 every sense. It is accompanied ordinarily by a wide forehead and nose, 

 large nostrils, wide separation of the ears, the eyes, and of the branches 

 of the lower jaw, exceeding fineness of the skin, of the eyelids, and of 

 the lips, and a high faculty of expression. It is the type of absolute 

 beauty ; it indicates the nobleness of the animal, his purity of blood, 

 his energy, and his kindness of temperament. It is found in Aryan 

 and thoroughbred horses and their descendants of mixed breed. It is 

 the one most highly appreciated. 



2. The conical head is that which is much contracted at its 

 inferior extremity. It is regarded as a defect, because it presents, 

 it is said, all the characters opposed to those of the preceding form. 

 This is true in many cases, and some who designate the beauty of the 

 head by saying that the horse should be able to drink from a glass, 

 little suspect that they indicate precisely the defective point ; the animal 

 is nearly always incapable of performing work requiring force and 

 energy. Yet we have known, for several years, excellent horses which 

 had the conical head. Old subjects, from senile atrophy of the max- 

 illary bones and the change in the direction of the incisor teeth, some- 

 times acquire this form of head. 



In a general examination it is necessary, therefore, to assure our- 

 selves that the forehead and nose are wide, the jaws well separated ; in 

 a word, that the head does not present one of the more exceptional 

 forms of which we will speak immediately. In the latter the anterior 

 surface of the head is characterized by a curvature more or less marked, 

 which may be concave or convex. These have received special names. 



3. The head is arched when the profile of its anterior face is 

 convex. 



4. It is called hare-faced when the convexity is limited to the 

 region of the forehead. 



5. It is designated ram's head when the convexity is limited to 

 the nose. 



I)e Curnieu also described the hurdy-gurdy head, so named on 

 account of its resemblance to the profile of that instrument. It pre- 

 sents " a curve, more or less pronounced, extending without interruption 

 from the poll to the lips ; it ordinarily has considerable expression and 

 indicates a pure line of descent." It is not necessary to dwell upon this 

 variety, as all its characteristics correspond to those of the arched form. 



