THE MUSCLES AND PROPER FORM OF THE NECK. 213 



This tendon, c, belongs also to another muscle, which makes up the principal 

 bulk of the lower part of the neck, and is called the complexus major or larger 

 complicated muscle. It arises partly as low as the transverse processes of the 

 four or five first bones of the back, and from the five lower bones of the neck • 

 and, the fibres from these various sources uniting togSther, form a very large 

 and powerful muscle, the largest and strongest in the neck. As it approaches 

 the head, it lessens in bulk, and terminates partly with the splenius in this 

 tendon, but is principally inserted into the back part of the occipital bone, by 

 the side of the ligament of the neck. In the cut, p. 154, almost its whole course 

 can be distinctly traced. Its office is to raise the neck and elevate the head • 

 and being inserted into such a part of the occiput, it will more particularly 

 protrude the nose, while it raises the head. Its action, however, maybe too 

 powerful ; it may be habitually so, and then it may produce deformity. The 

 back of the head being pulled back, and the muzzle protruded, the horse cannot 

 by possibility carry his head well. He will become what is technically called 

 a star-gazer ; — heavy in hand, boring upon the bit, and unsafe. To remedy 

 this, recourse is had, and in the majority of cases without avail, to the martin- 

 gale, against which the horse is continually fighting, and which is often a com- 

 plete annoyance to the rider. Such a horse is almost useless for harness. 



Inseparable from this is another sad defect, so far as the beauty of the horse 

 is concerned ; — he becomes ewe-necked ; i. e., he has a neck like a ewe — not 

 arched above, and straight below, until near to the head, but hollowed above 

 and projecting below ; and the neck rising low out of the chest, even lower 

 sometimes than the points of the shoulders. There can scarcely be anything 

 more unsightly in a horse. His head can never be got fairly down ; and the 

 bearing rein of harness must be to him a source of constant torture. In regard- 

 ing, however, the length and the form of the neck, reference must be had to the 

 purpose for which the horse is intended. In a hackney few things can be more 

 abominable than a neck so disproportionable, so long that the hand of the rider 

 gets tired in managing the head of the horse. In a race-horse this lengtheniug 

 of the neck is a decided advantage. 



Among the muscles employed in raising the head, are the complexus minores 

 (smaller complicated), and the recti (straight), and the oblique muscles of the 

 upper part of the neck, and belonging principally to the two first bones of the 

 neck, and portions of which may be seen under the tendon of the splenius c, 

 and between it and the ligament a. 



Among the muscles employed in lowering the head, some of which are given 

 in the same cut, is the sterno-maxillaris, d, belonging to the breast-bone, and 

 the upper jaw. It can likewise be traced, although not quite distinctly, in the 

 cut, page 212. It lies immediately under the skin. It arises from the cartilage 

 projecting from, or constituting the front of the breast-bone (H, p. 108), and 

 proceeds up the neck, of no great bulk or strength. At about three-fourths of 

 its length upward, it changes to a flat tendon, which is seen (d, p. 172) to 

 insinuate itself between the parotid and submaxillary glands, in order to be 

 inserted into the angle of the lower jaw. It is used in bending the head 

 towards the chest. 



Another muscle, the termination of which is seen, is the levator humeri, raiser 

 of the shoulder, 6. This is a much larger muscle than the last, because it has 

 more duty to perform. It rises from the back of the head and four first bones 

 of the neck and the ligament of the neck, and is earned down to the shoulder, 

 mixing itself partly with some of the muscles of the shoulder, and finally con- 

 tinued down to and terminating on the humerus (J, p. 109). Its office is 

 double. If the horse is in action, and the head and neck are fixed points, the con- 

 traction of this muscle will draw forward the shoulder and arm ; if the horse is 



