16 THE HORSE 



and the withers reasonably high. This conforma- 

 tion makes a strong as well as an elegant 

 shoulder. 



The body should be nicely rounded, neither 

 gaunt nor " pot-bellied," and should be ribbed 

 well up toward the hips. 



The chest should be deep, rather than wide, giv- 

 ing large lung capacity. 



The neck should be free from undue fleshiness. 

 It may be either long or short, as far as utility is 

 concerned, the long, of course, being much more 

 elegant and therefore to be preferred on well-bred 

 horses. In either case it should be bent a little 

 just before the point where it joins the head so as 

 to give the conformation that we call " clean cut 

 in the throttle," a structure that gives the breath- 

 ing apparatus free play. 



The head in well-bred horses should be small 

 and almost as clean and bony as the limbs. The 

 face line, viewed from the side, should be straight, 

 not aquiline (or, as in the case of many Arabs, it 

 may be slightly dishing). The forehead should 

 be flat between the eyes. The eyes should be of 

 medium size, set well apart from each other and 

 not too near the top of the head, and the head, 

 when viewed from the front, should slant in a 

 little from the eyes upward. The ears should be 

 fine, thin and pointed and of medium length, and 



