SUPERIOR FACE OF THE BODY. 99 



surface, on which are seen, in fine and well-bred horses, the digitations 

 and directions of the muscles underneath the skin. Below, it presents 

 a longitudinal depression along the side of the trachea, known under 

 the name of jugular gutter. The width of the latter diminishes from 

 before to behind ; its depth varies with the subject according to the 

 form of the neck, the muscular development, etc. In those animals in 

 which the neck is stag-like, or reversed, this gutter is more superficial. 

 Whatever may be its disposition, it lodges under the skin a large super- 

 ficial vein, the jugular, which becomes immediately very apparent 

 when the circulation of the blood is interfered with by any obstacle, as 

 the pressure of too small a collar, for example. 



2. Borders. The inferior border is thick and rounded, because 

 it has for its base the trachea. Its width from side to side is in rela- 

 tion with the calibre of this conduit and the amplitude of the lungs. It 

 constitutes, therefore, a mark of absolute beauty. 



The superior border, thinner than the preceding, supports the 

 mane. Its thinness is a matter of beauty and is to be sought for ; but, 

 in some old horses, especially stallions, it becomes invaded with adi- 

 pose tissue, which renders it so heavy that it cannot sustain itself and 

 falls to one side. Such a condition is called lop-neck, or fallen-neck, 

 an ungraceful disfigurement which makes the application of the collar 

 difficult, and is accompanied by deep transverse folds, which are always 

 hard to cleanse, and in which colonies of acari often take refuge. We 

 have seen some animals in which these furrows were sufficiently deep 

 to bury the hand when the head was extended. 



The region of the neck should be examined as to its form, direction, 

 or carriage, volume, length, mode of attachment to the head, and its 

 movements. 



Form. The neck is called straight, or pyramidal, when its borders 

 are rectilinear and its lateral faces nearly plane or but slightly rounded, 

 according to the age, the sex, the volume of the muscles, etc., of the ani- 

 mal. The head is then well supported and well directed. It is arched 

 when its superior border describes a convexity more or less pronounced 

 throughout its entire length. In this case the head is ordinarily carried 

 in a vertical position and presents the defectiveness of which we have 

 already spoken. If the convexity be limited to the anterior part it is 

 designated swan-neck, by reason of analogy to the neck of that bird, 

 whose graceful curvature it imitates. This form modifies, like the pre- 

 ceding, the carriage of the head, but the vertical direction which the latter 

 shows is less pronounced. Finally, the neck is reversed, or ewe-necked, 

 when its superior border is concave, which implies a proportional con- 



