SIZE OF HEAD. 165 



able " point " in horses whose success depends on their power 

 of breathing. I venture to think that men of experience will 

 agree with me in saying that unusually neat and trim heads 

 are far more common among " the five furlong division," than 

 among genuine stayers. Again, the head should be of 

 sufficient size to afford a broad surface for the attachment of 

 the muscles of mastication, for those that extend, flex, rotate 

 and move the head from one side to the other, and for muscles 

 which draw the limb forward, and which are, consequently, 

 important agents of movement. The connection between the 

 size of the head and the amount of intelligence possessed by 

 an animal is, as with ourselves, too ill-defined to admit of any 

 practical deductions being made from it. As the usefulness 

 of a horse is generally limited by the amount of work his 

 legs will stand, the possession of a large head by an animal 

 which is " light of bone " in his extremities, is a serious defect ; 

 for it not alone shows that his frame is wanting in symmetry, 

 but it also tends to indicate that the bones of his body, and, 

 probably, the muscles and other tissues, are too heavy for his 

 legs. If, however, he showed great substance and good 

 quality of bone, tendon and ligament, we might very well 

 ^'put up" with some "plainness" about his head. Any useless 

 weight of that part, acting at the end of the lever formed by 

 the neck, will naturally be objectionable. Agreeably to the 

 facts mentioned on page 161, we may judge the length of the 

 head by that of the body, the usual proportion being about i 

 to i\. Probably, a more practical rule is to compare the 

 length of the head with the depth of the body at the lowest 

 point of the back. In a well-shaped horse which is not in 

 gross condition, these two measurements are very nearly 

 equal ; although the head, from its isolated position, looks 



