Bush-Brown: Heredity in Horses 
219 
SKELETON OF “‘OBED” 
The sire and dam of Obed (Boaz Clay and Ruth Clay) were each from a pure Arab mare (Naomi) 
and trotting stallion (Young Jack Shepard). 
vertebrae. (Fig. 21.) 
herited the five lumbar vertebrae of the 
dam (see Fig. 20). The sire and dam 
of Obed were each from a pure Arab 
mare and trotting stallion, and there 
seemed a chance that Obed would have 
five lumbar vertebrae, but he had six 
(see Fig. 21) with the eighteen dorsals. 
This shows the recessive character of 
the short back. 
A curious case of atavism is illus- 
trated in the skeleton of McKinney, a 
trotting stallion, registered number 
8818, whose skeleton is in the Museum 
of Natural History. He was grandson 
of George Wilkes, and therefore seven 
generations from the pure Arab Grand 
Bashaw, his nearest Arab ¢ncestor. 
He developed solid ribs .on the 
lateral processes of his first lumbar 
vertebra. Fig. 22 shows the 17th or 
last dorsal vertebra, giving his short 
back of 23 in all, but his solid rib was 
Obed, however, had six instead of five lumbar 
his 18th, thus having the full 18 ribs. 
This is important as it explains a like 
tendency in a foal skeleton from a pure 
Arab mare and a Norway sire with 17 
dorsal and six lumbar vertebrae. (See 
Figure 23.) 
If this foal had lived he would 
probably have developed two solid 
ribs like McKinney as he had one rib 
already attached to his first lumbar, 
and its mate was probably in process 
of formation. 
McKinney shows by the record that 
he was a great producer of speed, having 
sired 31 in the 2:10 class and the dams 
of 15 in the 2:10 class, while his own 
record was 2:1114. His dam was Rose 
Sprague by Governor Sprague, another 
great producer. 
His anatomy shows he was ribbed up 
like an Arab with only the width of two 
fingers between the last rib and the hip 
