1 6 Present Varieties of the Horse. 



therefore, may fairly be laid down as the best height for 

 the race horse, though it cannot be denied that for some 

 small and confined courses — as, for instance, that of Ches- 

 ter — a smaller horse of little more than 15 hands height 

 has a better chance, as being more capable of turning round 

 the constantly recurring angles or bends. 



The head and neck should be characterized by lightness, 

 which is essential to this department. Whatever is un- 

 necesssary is so much dead weight, and w r e know the 

 effect of 7 lb. in impeding the horse over a distance of 

 ground. Now 7 lb. are easily bestowed upon a neck which 

 may differ in at least 20 or 30 lb. between the two extremes 

 of lightness and excessive weight. Thus, it may be con- 

 sidered as indubitable that whatever is met with in the 

 head and neck, which is not necessary for the peculiar pur- 

 poses of the race horse, is so much weight thrown away, 

 and yet it must be carried by the horse. Such is the general 

 character of this part ; but, in detail, the head should be 

 lean about the jaw, yet with a full development of forehead, 

 which should be convex and wide, so as to contain within 

 the skull a good volume of brain. Supposing this fulness 

 to exist, all the rest of the head may be as fine as possible; 

 the jaws being reduced to a fine muzzle, with a slight hol- 

 lowing out in front, but with a width between the two sides 

 of the lower jaw where it joins the neck, so as to allow 

 plenty of room for the top of the windpipe when the neck 

 is bent. The ears should be pricked and fine, but not too 

 short ; eyes full and spirited ; nostrils large, and capable 

 of being well dilated when at full speed, which is easily 

 tested by the gallop, after which they ought to stand out 

 firmly, and so as to show the internal lining fully. The 

 neck should be muscular and yet light ; the windpipe loose 

 and separate from the neck — that is, not too tightly bound 

 down by the fascia, or membrane of the neck. The crest 

 should be thin and wiry, not thick and loaded, as is often 

 seen in coarse stallions, or even in some mares. Between 

 the two extremes of the ewe-neck and its opposite there 

 are many degrees, but for racing purposes I should prefer, 

 of the two, the former to the latter ; for few horses can go 

 well with their necks bent so as to draw the chin to the 



