2(5 FORM AND ACTION. 



nent nose and dilated nostrils, coupled with fulness about the 

 throat and width across the jowl, shews that ample provision has 

 been made for the olfactory, respiratory, and manducatory appa- 

 ratus : so that, small as the blood head at first view appears, it, in 

 point of fact, is large, or rather capacious, in every part where de- 

 velopment of the contained organs is required. Thus, that which 

 is set down as the handsomest of heads, turns out, on examination, 

 to be the most serviceable of heads : in this, as, indeed, in most — 

 in all — other instances in the animal economy, utility and beauty 

 go hand in hand. 



The Muzzle, as all the inferior or most dependent part of the 

 head is called, including the nostrils and lips and mouth, is very 

 characteristic of the breed or species. Observe what a difference 

 exists between the muzzles of a low and a high-bred horse : the one, 

 broad and flat and mean-looking, emerging from a line more or less 

 convex down the front of the face, and curving down into the 

 upper lip, with nostrils over-lapping, and their contracted en- 

 trances beset and almost closed by long hairs : the other, small 

 enough, as the saying is, " to go into a pint-pot," with every part 

 boldly marked, and its outline, instead of a curve, being straight 

 along the front, or from about the middle of the face, inclining for- 

 ward or outward even beyond the perpendicular of the line of the 

 face, and, instead of declining, ending abruptly in a prominent 

 point, from which it turns sharply down, at a right angle nearly, to 

 form the upper lip ; the nostrils at the sides standing open, with 

 their scanty borders seemingly insufficient to cover them, and with 

 hardly any hair at their entrances. It is difficult to sketch these 

 differences in words : a drawing might serve to elucidate the de- 

 scription ; but, to thoroughly understand all that is said, the living 

 subjects themselves must be consulted. The muzzle is a part 

 very characteristic of breeding; so much so that, when other points 

 are dubiously developed, great reliance may be placed upon it 

 alone. 



The Eyes strike the most superficial observer as tokens of 

 breed. Everybody has noticed the difference between the eye of 

 an Arabian or English racer, and that of the half or cart-bred 

 horse : the bold and decided brow, and full gazelle eye of the 



