HEAD IN GENERAL. 95 



straight heads. It appears to us very hazardous to believe that this 

 conformation predisposes to roaring, and the facts which we will relate 

 seem to prove that the observations made during the last century have 

 been mal-interpreted. The lesions of chronic roaring do not reside in 

 the nasal cavities. Among horses with straight heads roaring seems to 

 be as common as among those in which they are convex ; finally, it 

 should not occasion surprise to find roaring more common in some races 

 than in others, this resulting not so much from an anatomical deTect as 

 from a physiological weakness transmitted by heredity. This confor- 

 mation is really only defective when accompanied by a veritable nar- 

 rowness of the cranial cavity, the forehead, nose, nostrils, or maxillary 

 space. In other cases it is perfectly reconcilable with services which 

 exact force and vitality. The same argument is true as to glanders, to 

 which horses with arched heads were, incorrectly, said to be more 

 predisposed than others. 



F. Attachments of the Head. 



Attachments of the head is the name given to the mode of union 

 between that part of the body and the neck. The head is said to be 

 well attached when there exists a slight depression in front of the trans- 

 verse apophysis of the atlas, extending from the poll to the throat. 

 When its union with the neck forms a graceful curve, the movements 

 are easy and extended. This is preferable in the saddle-horse and 

 those used for light purposes. It is to be noticed in the finer races as 

 well as in mixed breeds, in the English horse, the true Arabian, the 

 Anglo-Norman, the Tarban horse, etc. 



The head is poorly attached, or unfastened, when the parotid grooves 

 are too much accentuated. Often, with this arrangement, the neck is 

 long and slender, the muscles of the members slightly developed, the 

 loins depressed, the chest narrow, and the animal lacks strength and 

 endurance. The head' is plastered on when the parotid groove is 

 effaced. The subject is then heavy on the bit and appears unsightly. 

 This condition is most objectionable in the saddle-horse. 



G. Movements of the Head. 



The movements of the head play an important part in the exe- 

 cution of the different functions which it fulfils. It contains, first, the 

 organs of smell, sight, hearing, and taste. We can add to these the sense 

 of touch, although the latter belongs also to other regions. Whence it 

 follows that the head is obliged to assume different attitudes in order 



