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LECTURES ON HORSES. 
THE HEAD. 
“ The head of a horse should be narrow, lean, and not too long ; but the prin- 
cipal matter to be observed respecting it, is, that it is well united with the 
neck, that so the horse may be enabled to bring it into a good position : 
and the best position in which a horse can possibly hold his head is such 
an one as is perfectly perpendicular from the brow to the ground, so that, 
were a plummet to be suspended from that part, it would just raze or 
touch the nose. Every horse that has too large a head is apt to bear too 
hard on the bridle, which not only tires the rider’s hand very much, but 
exposes both to several very disagreeable accidents ; and, besides, a large 
headed horse cannot appear to any advantage unless he has a very long 
and well-turned neck.” — Farriers' Dictionary. 
The spine affords us an example of a structure both supporting 
and supported : at its fore extremity the head is supported by it ; 
at its hind, the tail ; in the middle it supports the chest; while it- 
self is supported by the fore and hind limbs. The head appended 
to the extremity of the vertebral nhain is mechanically operating by 
its gravity the same as any dead weight placed at the end of a long 
lever ; for which reason, though a long neck is per se objectionable, 
yet are there, as we have seen, some circumstances which may 
tend to mitigate, and others that will tend to nullify, these objec- 
tions. A large head will, of course, render length in the neck less 
desirable ; but even in this case much will depend upon the man- 
ner in which the head is “ set on,” and upon the mode in which it is 
carried, and something upon the form of the head itself. A sort of 
slang reply used by horse-dealers, when any purchaser objects to a 
horse on account of the size of his head, is, “ Oh, never mind his 
head, sir ! he carries it himself.” A saying which, vulgar and ab- 
surd as it appears, like the motto in the old song, “ means more 
than it says.” For the dealer means his customer to understand 
that the animal is capable — possesses the power in his neck — of 
carrying his head without trouble to himself or inconvenience to his 
rider ; and that, therefore, his big head is in point of fact not an 
objection to him, or at least only so far as regards its appearance. 
Abstract size of the head is of less consequence than the car- 
riage of it; and, in order that it may be well carried, the head must 
be properly “ set on.” Upon this depends the power of getting 
the head into the proper position. When the head is properly set 
on, and the neck of adequate length, the riding-master’s task be- 
comes comparatively facile and pleasant : for such a horse Nature 
has done what he by art in vain endeavours to accomplish for a 
horse of an opposite conformation. In making these observations 
I am fully aware how much for the better horses having faulty con- 
formation in these respects may, by a judicious system of manege, 
