FORM. 83 



more power over him than if his neck be loose 

 and low. But, in a hunter, the proper position 

 of his head is a point of the greatest moment^ as 

 without it his rider cannot handle him properly 

 at his fences ; and if he be not a regular star- 

 gazer, he is always more or less dangerous to ride 

 over a country. The proper junction of the head 

 with the neck, and the carrying of it well or ill, 

 depend chiefly on two particular muscles contained 

 in the neck. The most important of these is called 

 the splenius muscle, which constitutes the principal 

 bulk of the neck above, and its action is sufiiciently 

 evident, namely, very powerfully to elevate the 

 head and neck. The principal beauty of the neck, 

 indeed, as well as the carriage of the head, depends 

 on this muscle ; and its ample development is a 

 point the sportsman should attend to in the choice 

 of horses that are to carry him with hounds. A 

 certain degree of muscularity of the neck is abso- 

 lutely necessary in a hunter, and it is greatly pro- 

 moted by good keep in colthood ; also by delaying 

 the period of castration till the second year, which 

 should invariably be done, when the want of this 

 muscularity is apparent in the first. It must, how- 

 ever, be observed, that there is a medium in this 

 muscularity of the neck, although excess is the bet- 

 ter extreme of the two ; for when the neck of a 

 horse appears, like that of a sheep, to rise out of 

 the chest, and so far from being arched above, and 

 straight below, is hollowed above, and projects be- 

 low, such a horse is nearly worthless for any plea- 



