LECTURES ON HORSES. 
125 
be improved : I know that they may, and to a greater degree than 
people in general imagine ; at the same time I shall not be contra- 
dicted when I affirm, that there are necks straight or ewed, with 
heads set on in that fashion, that will defy all the riding-masters in 
Christendom to get them into a proper position, and make such 
horses ride in any tolerable form. 
There is a great variety in the size and shape of horses’ heads, 
and the indications they afford are no less unerring than useful to 
us in determining breed, qualifications, &c. The head may be of 
that ordinary magnitude and suitable character that attracts no par- 
ticular notice ; or it may be disproportionately large or small, or 
out of proportion in some of its parts ; or such as is accounted hand- 
some , or plain, or ugly ; or such as denotes kind or breeding, or 
any particular breed, or nationality. 
A LARGE OR BIG HEAD is generally regarded as unsightly — • 
as detracting from the beauty of its possessor, or actually rendering 
him plain or ugly, and, consequently, a sufficient reason to reject 
the purchase of such a horse. It does not follow that, because a 
head be large, it be plain or ugly, although we shall very often find 
these qualities combined : a coarse, vulgar, large head, with a 
countenance possessing neither breed nor sagacity, but rather ex- 
pressive of ill-temperedness, is certainly enough to condemn the 
unfortunate owner of it, be his other qualifications what they may; 
but a head which, although large, shews shapeliness, and some 
breeding and sagacity, and withal has a good-tempered front, ought 
not to be despised on account of its magnitude. A frequent ac- 
companiment of a large head is, what is called, 
A ROMAN Nose ; and this, with many persons, constitutes an 
additional objection to it : for my own part, however, I do not carry 
dislike to this head so far as is commonly done. I do not think, 
myself, that roman-nosed horses are in general ill-tempered, al- 
though low bred ; nor have I found them inclined to vice : in- 
deed, I can call to mind instances in which horses with such heads 
have turned out very good of their kind. It is, however, as being 
the very reverse in form of the blood or Arabian head, a decisive 
mark of low or rather no breeding, and therefore can only be tole- 
rated in half or coarse-bred horses. 
A small Head is almost peculiar to the well-bred horse : we 
rarely see it unless in conjunction with breeding; and yet there 
may be a vulgarity about its make and expression which, were it 
not for its diminished size, we should consider coarse and objection- 
able. It may have neither the forehead, nor the nose, nor the jowl, of 
the true blood head. In a racer such would be regarded as vulgar, 
or give rise to suspicions of pedigree ; in a half-bred horse it might, 
and probably would, tend to enhance his estimation ; though, when 
