A balancing act

There are occasions when I see an achievement of arms and the crest just doesn’t look right and I can’t see how even the most accomplished artist could make it so. An upright sword is one example … it just looks too tall and thin to have any real substance. Another example is the head of an animal when it is caboshed; animal heads look fine on a crest wreath or on a coronet when they are couped or erased but they rarely appear satisfactory when caboshed as they have to either precariously balance upon a wreath or, if they are out of a coronet, float slightly above it or sit low down within it. As a charge upon a shield a caboshed head presents no problem but it beats me why anyone would choose to have one as a crest when the poor wee beastie could at least have a neck!