

EXTERNAL FORM. Clll 



the animal can reach the ground, and collect his food ; but if 

 the limbs be short, so will the neck be in proportion to the 

 size of the trunk ; and hence shortness of neck, with relation 

 to the size of the body, is one of the points of character re- 

 garded in the Ox. But an undue shortness of neck, like all 

 deviations from the natural form, may likewise indicate dimi- 

 nution of strength and hardiness. By refinement in breed- 

 ing, and by giving the animal his food from the birth in stalls 

 and mangers, his neck may become so short as to render him 

 unable to reach the ground, and collect his natural suste- 

 nance. 



A capacious trunk being connected with the property of 

 fattening, the ribs should be widely arched, rising almost 

 horizontally from the spine, and then bending downwards 

 with a sweep, producing a wide and flat back, and likewise 

 round sides, as far as the natural form of the animal will 

 allow. This is an important character in the Ox, in which 

 narrowness of back, and too great flatness of sides, scarcely 

 ever consist with the property of fattening quickly. In the 

 Horse, we have seen, this conformation indicates weakness, 

 and in a no less degree it indicates, in the Ox, the want of 

 that vigour which is connected with the power to fatten. In 

 the Horse designed for active motion, we required that the 

 chest, at its commencement, should not be too wide, so as to 

 place the fore-limbs too far asunder, and that the breast 

 should not extend too much in front of the fore-limbs, so as 

 to render the animal heavy before. In the Ox, none of these 

 characters can exist to the degree of being injurious. We 

 require that the breast shall be wide and well extended for- 

 ward, and that the fore-limbs shall be far asunder. 



The shoulders should be broad at the top, and well covered 

 with muscle. The spines of the back and loins should be so 

 enveloped in muscle as to cause the back to appear nearly 

 straight from the neck backwards. The back and loins 

 should be somewhat long ; for although a short and compact 

 body indicates greater robustness and tendency to fatten, yet 



