S Horses and Horsemastership, 



opinion that, generally speaking, the 15.2 horse, take 

 him all round, presents fewer glaring faults than does 

 his taller or shorter brothers. By this I mean that if 

 you take at random a score of horses of the height I 

 advocate, and a score of 15 hands or of 16 hands, you 

 will find among your 15.2 horses more animals suitable 

 for troopers than you will among either of the other 

 classes jyro rata. 



The next thing to be sought is intelligence. Look at 

 his head : it should be comparatively small and lean, yet 

 with great width between the eyes, which should be 

 large and docile looking, and yet conveying an im- 

 pression of alertness. Tlie mouth should be small, and 

 the lips thin and well set. The nostrils should be large 

 and expansive, free from coarse hairs, and, like the lips, 

 thin. Tlie ears should be in proportion to the head, 

 neither too small nor too large ; the}' should be carried 

 rather close together than otherwise, should point for- 

 ward, and, in conjunction with the eyes, do much to 

 indicate the horse's character. The head should be well 

 carried on a moderately long and tapering neck, which, 

 rising gradually from the withers, ends in a graceful 

 curve at the occipital bone. Tliis curve or ''crest" should 

 not be, however, too pronounced, or the proper poise of 

 the head will be destroyed, and the animal more or less 

 forced to carry his muzzle inwards towards his chest, 



