154 HEAD AND NECK, 



beautifully exemplified in St. Simon, whose photograph 

 (Fig. 9) is not nearly as good as I could have wished. These 

 points also come out well in Florizel IL (Fig, 323), Favonius 

 (Fig. 324), Predominant (Fig. 236), Blitz (Fig. 370), and 

 Romance (Fig. 270). In the Arab pony, The Brat (Fig. 

 371), the curved line is perfect from the head to the croup , 

 but, on account of the way he is standing, it descends too 

 abruptly from the top of the croup to the tail In Ormonde 

 (Frontispiece) the head is set on to the neck in a coarse, 

 stiff manner. The ideal contour which I have described, is 

 evidently an affair of beauty rather than of usefulness. 



Neck, — As the length of the neck indicates the length 

 of the muscles which draw the shoulder forward (p. 31) , the 

 more we seek for speed and ability to jump cleverly in an 

 animal, the longer should be his neck; its thickness being 

 limited by the amount of strength the muscles have to put 

 forth. The race-horse, hunter, and fast trotter, therefore, 

 should have a long and comparatively thin neck, and the 

 other classes should have their necks proportionately shorter 

 and thicker according as they recede from the racing and 

 'cross country type and approach that of the heavy draught 

 animal. The operation of this rule should be restricted only 

 so far as to allow sufficient length of neck for grazing 

 purposes. Some heavy cart-horses have such short necks 

 that they cannot feed off level ground with comfort to 

 themselves. When the art of breeding is pushed to such an 

 extreme as this, I cannot help thinking that there must be 

 some defect in its practical working. It is evident that 

 the combination of a large head and a thin neck is not 

 alone unpleasing to the eye, but is almost always a sign of 

 general weakness. 



The all-essential power which men possess to guide and 

 regulate the movements of a horse, largely depends on the 

 flexibility of the animal's neck. Were we unable to make 

 him bend it, and to oblige him to turn his head to one side 

 or the other in obedience to the ** feeling" of the hands on 



