REMARKS ON THE HORSE, 
ITS FORM, BREEDING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 
BY C. LOFTUS MARTIN, BELOIT. 
t 
In considering this subject, as I intend my remarks to be strictly prac¬ 
tical, I shall omit the early history of the horse, which has so often been 
brought before the public by pens more abler than mine, and commence 
at once by describing the form of a blood horse of the present day, not 
as he is too often found, but as he should be, and as he always is found 
more or less to be, if a good one, or intended to perform any thing more 
than ordinary service, for I never heard of a horse doing an extra¬ 
ordinary thing, but upon seeing him I found he had some extraordinary 
good points. To commence with the head, it matters not so much about 
the size, as the shape of it, for by nothing can you judge so well of the 
blood and temper of a horse, as by his head—it should be what in horse 
phraseology is called a lean and bony one, with large expanding nostrils 
—the eyes also large and placed wide apart to afford room for the nasal 
cavities, for it is a physiological fact, though little known, that the horse, 
owing to a peculiar formation of the velum palati, cannot breathe through 
his mouth, but only through his nostrils, consequently if the nasal cavi¬ 
ties are naturally constricted, the slightest cold or inflammation will 
cause an impediment to his breathing, and, in all probabilitjq cause him 
to make a whistling noise for the remainder of his life. The eyes should 
also be placed low down, thereby forming a large expanding forehead. 
The ears should be large, well split open, but thin, and when drawn 
through the hand should feel like a beautiful Paris kid glove; they 
should be placed well forward and wide apart, for their situation de¬ 
pends upon the size of the bones beneath, and if they are small, the 
cavity the bones form to contain the brain will be small also; and if 
this portion of the brain be wanting in size or power, the animal will be 
found proportionately wanting in intelligence. The branches of the lower 
jaw should be large, gradually tapering down to the mouth, which should 
be well split up to allow room for the bit, but formed by nice, thin-skinned 
and close-textured lips. The posterior angles of the jaw should be well 
rounded off, not carried too far backward, and spread wide enough apart 
