SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 



233 



and the slanting of the shoulder. Its use is evidently to support the 

 shoulder, to raise it, and likewise to draw it backward ; therefore, con- 

 stituting one of the most important muscles connected with the action of 

 the horse, and illustrating the advantage of high withers and a slanting 

 shoulder. A portion of it is represented as turned back, to show othei 



muscles beneath. A moment's 

 inspection will convince the 

 reader, that although we may 

 have been justified in objecting 

 to a low forehead and thick 

 shoulder, yet still some full- 

 ness and fleshiness are neces- 

 sary, even about the withers ; 

 otherwise, although there may 

 be height of withers, and ob- 

 liquity of shoulder to give ex- 

 tensive action, there will not 

 be sufficient muscular power to 

 work the machine with either 

 quickness or continuance. 



At c is a portion of the 

 levator humeri (the raiser of 

 the shoulder), descending even 

 from the tubercle at the back 

 of the head (see cut, page 

 63), and from the base of the 

 temporal bone, and attaching 

 itself to the first four bones 

 of the neck, and to the liga- 

 ment of the neck ; inserting 

 itself into the covering of the 

 muscles of the shoulder, and 

 the muscles about the point 

 of the shoulder, and at length 

 terminating in a ridge on the 

 lower bone of the shoulder. 

 It is a muscle of immense power 

 and great utility, raising and 

 drawing forward the shoulder and the arm, and, when these are fixed, 

 turning the head and neck if one acts, and depressing them if the muscles 

 on both sides act at the same time. 



At cZ is a portion of the great saw-like or tooth-shaped muscle of the 

 shoulder, constituting the bulk of the lower part of the neck ; deeply 

 seated ; arising, as here seen, from the five last bones of the neck, and 

 the two first ribs, and the lower portion of it springing from all the true 

 ribs ; all the fibres tending towards, and inserted into the inner surface of 

 ^he shoulder ; and by means of which the shoulder is attached to the chest, 

 and the immense weight of the body supported. We have already spoken 

 of the use of this muscle in obviating concussion, and presume the reader 

 will bear in mind what has been previously said. 



When the horse is standing, this muscle occasionally discharges another 



important function. The shoulders and legs are then rendered fixed, 



and immoveable by the weight of the body ; and this muscle no longer 



being able to move the limbs, exerts its power in enlaj-ging the cavity 



Q 



