Breeding and Management of Horses on a Farm. 513 
as such is desirable in a mare intended for the procreation of well- 
bred stock. A sharp quick motion of the ear backwards and for- 
wards on its own axis is in many instances an indication of spright- 
liness and vivacity, and on that account should not be entirely 
overlooked by the intelligent breeder. 
The eyes should be clear, bright, somewhat prominent, large, 
and open ; a drooping eyelid being, in many instances, a symptom 
of periodical attacks of inflammation, besides denoting a dull and 
inactive disposition. If there be a white spot upon the forehead, 
above the eyes, it is generally considered not only a mark of beauty, 
but likewise of goodness. 
The jaws should be lean, yet muscular, and placed far apart 
from each other, so as to afford plenty of space for the admission 
of the trachea or windpipe, which should merge between them 
with a gentle and regular curve, so that when the horse's head is 
moderately extended there may exist no impediment to inspiration 
and expiration, as is the case to a certain extent in the horse whose 
head forms rather a sharp angle with the neck. The space under- 
neath and between the jaws should be perfectly free from swellings 
or grossness of any kind. 
The neck should be of medium length ; a short neck often 
accompanying thick wind, and a long one being frequently indi- 
cative of a predisposition to diseases of the respiratory organs, and 
a sign of a weak constitution : it should rise gradually from the 
shoulders with a gentle curve, diminishing in volume as it ap- 
proaches the head, with which it should appear, as it were, to 
blend itself — few things being more ugly in the horse than an ill- 
placed head — and the curve of the under part of the neck should 
be continued to the space within the jaws. 
The shoulders of the mare intended to breed horses destined 
for the field can scarcely be too oblique or too deep. The sloping 
position of this most important part is productive of higher and 
cleaner action than can be possessed by the horse whose shoulders 
are upright — a fault that seldom fails to render him unpleasant 
under the saddle, and frequently unsafe. The possibility of a 
stallion and mare, each with extremely oblique shoulders, begetting 
a foal whose action may turn out too high and dashing for a hunter 
need never deter a farmer from breeding from them if good in 
every other respect, since it is well known that extraordinary action 
will always produce an extraordinary price for some purpose or 
other. I he wither should be high and somewhat narrow, and 
the whole of the shoulder or blade-bone covered with flattish, 
wiry-looking muscle — too great a quantity of flesh on this part 
being generally accompanied by a somewhat upright shoulder, 
whose disadvantageous position requires a greater moving power 
than the shoulder more obliquely placed. 
