Examined 15th September, 1905. Bay cart-horse, reversed area lying nearly horizontal under the shaft of the cart; hairs formed into a whorl, feathering and crest lying posteriorly—pattern four inches in length, on near side only. One case only examined.
G. Pattern on side of face.
Examined 25th May, 1905. Grey hackney with wide reversed area of hair along side of face ending above in oblique crest, under a strap of the headstall, on the offside only. Two cases examined, the other similar.
H. Pattern on border of the neck under the collar.
Examined 28th September, 1906. Bay cart-horse. On near side under the collar which was lifted up while the horse was resting, the hairs at the border of the neck were formed into a large whorl. One case only examined.
First. The normal arrangement of hair on the under surface of the horse’s neck shows an even stream passing from the head to the chest, where it is interrupted by the pectoral patterns, and during that course resembles precisely the other normal streams in this and other mammals.
The opponent asks, “How do you know this is the normal slope, and that the patterns you describe are not normal, and what you describe as normal is not a variation?” This is a perfectly proper and timely question and can only be answered fully by examination of and noting a large number of draught horses.
The Normal Arrangement on the Ventral Surface of the Horse’s Neck.
This examination has been made in a number of specimens large enough to satisfy the most exacting opponent. In all, 748 were examined as to the hair on the under surface of the neck and 338 of these presented the normal arrangement and 411 showed patterns of various kinds ranging from a trifling reversed area two to three inches long on one side of the middle line, to a finely-formed whorl, feathering and crest occupying the whole of the surface where the collar is able to reach. These two limits are shown side by side in the figures. I should add that among the 411 which I term abnormal, for the sake of clear contrast, the number of varieties of pattern were numerous and bewildering.