TJic Neck, the Ilead^ etc. 



129 



the depth of the jaw-bone, measured perpendicularly to 

 the forehead on a line passing through the eye ; this 

 dimension is sometimes so great in proportion that if 

 coupled with a coarse, fleshy, short neck, the angle of 

 the jaw coming in contact with the latter, a jam ensues 

 before the head can be brought round to the proper 

 angle. But this is perhaps a less frequent, and cer- 

 tainly a less serious, occurrence than another to which 

 we must now advert. 



A horse may have a moderate-sized or even a small 

 head, and the depth of jaw alluded to above may be so 



Fig. 7. 



trifling as not to ofler the slightest impediment to the 

 former assuming any position that may be desired, but 

 the jaws may both converge inward^ instead of diverg- 

 ing slightly as they should ; consequently the space con- 

 tained between the two jaws is narrowed in, which pre- 

 vents the neck fitting into this cavity to the same extent 

 as it will in a perfectly well-shaped head. The angle 

 of flection in such narrow-jawed horses is very limited 

 indeed, and becomes a serious impediment to the break- 

 ing and bitting of the animal. 



There is another case still worse than this, and not 

 unfrequently combined with it — in fact, the narrowness 



I 



