EXTERNAL FORMATION 



101 



The first of these divisions comprehends the back, loins, and croup ; 

 the second is the chest ; and the third may be considered under the head 



of THE BACK-RIBS, FLANK, AND BELLY. 



The Back, Loins, and Croup of the race-horse, as indeed of all horses 

 but those used exclusively for draught, are generally described as necessarily 

 moulded more or less in the form of an arch. Every architect is aware 

 that this formation is best adapted to carry weight. A straight-backed 

 greyhound is, by some experienced coursers, preferred to one which has a 

 slight arch in that part ; but in this animal there is no weight to be carried 

 beyond that of his own carcass, and, therefore, even granting the superiority 

 in him of a straight loin (which I do not), there is no analogy between the 



SATJNTERER. 



two animals. Nor do I believe altogether in the received theory which 

 attaches importance to the arched loin, beccmse of its greater cajmcity for 

 bearing weight from its mechanical form. Practically I concede, as an 

 admitted fact, that a horse with this construction of frame will carry 

 weight better than one which has a hollow loin; but, on examining the 

 skeleton of each, it will be seen that in neither are the bodies of the 

 vertebrae in this part of the spine arranged so as to form an arch, or if 

 there is one, it has its concavity, not its convexity upwards, which certainly 

 will not conduce to its weight-bearing powers. The fact really is, that in 

 the arched loin the spinous processes are unusually long, and are raised into 

 a crest like the high withers. By this development of bone an extra space 

 is afibrded, for both the lodgment and attachment of muscles, and herein is 

 the secret of the extra power. Between the pelvis and the bodies of the 



