WITHERS. 241 



distance they project above the top of the shoulder-blades ; 

 although it is often difficult to teU how high they are 

 in horses which have very thick withers. Animals that 

 are comparatively high over the croup, appear to have 

 lower withers than those which are high in front, even 

 when we make aUowance for any difference that may exist 

 in the length of the spines themselves. The reason for 

 this seems to be, that, as elevation of the croup causes the 

 weight of the body to be shifted forward ; such a con- 

 formation tends to depress the body between the shoulder- 

 blades, and consequently reduces the distance between them 

 and the top of the withers. 



" Age and sex have an equal influence on the leanness 

 of withers, which, badly defined in the colt, come well 

 out only towards five or six years old, at the time when 

 the bones have attained their full length, and the body 

 its definite size. The withers are less high in the mare 

 than in the gelding or entire. As a set off, the last men- 

 tioned, whose fore-hand acquires a considerable develop- 

 ment, has this part thicker, especially in the case of a 

 heavy draught animal " {Gouhaux and Barrier). 



As the withers afford attachment to the suspensory 

 hgament of the head and neck (ligamentum nuchce), the 

 bony development of the withers will usually be pro- 

 portionate to the thickness (strength) of this ligament; 

 its thickness being proportionate to the weight which it 

 has to support. As the weight of the head and neck of 

 an entire is relatively greater than that of a mare, the 

 spines of his withers (p. 36) wih be higher than hers, 

 supposing that, in other respects, the two animals are 

 of similar conformation. Although early castration pre- 

 vents, to a considerable extent, any marked difference 

 occurring between the muscular and fatty development 

 of the neck of the gelding and that of the mare ; it does 

 not appear to check the bony development of the withers. 

 Therefore, the neck of an ordinary gelding resembles that 

 of a mare ; and the height of his withers, that of an entire. 



16 



