SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 329 



and the muscles of the breast which vrere designed to strengthen the attachment 

 of the shoulders to the chest, and to bind them together, must, when the 

 point of the shoulder lies backward, and under the horse, be proportionably 

 thickened and strengthened, and the horse is thus still more heavy before, more 

 unpleasant, and more unsafe to ride. 



Then, ought every horse to have an oblique shoulder ? No ! The question 

 has relation to those horses that are designed to ride pleasantly, or from which 

 extensive and rapid action is required. In them it has been said that an oblique 

 shoulder is indispensable : but there are others which are seldom ridden ; whose 

 pace is slow, and who have nothing to do but to throw as much weight as pos- 

 sible into the collar. To them an upright shoulder is an advantage, because its 

 additional thickness gives them additional weight to throw into the collar, 

 which the power of their hinder quarters is fully sufficient to accomplish ; 

 and because the upright position of the shoulder gives that direction to the 

 collar which enables the horse to act upon every part of it, and that inclination 

 of the traces which will enable his weight or power to be most advantageously 

 employed. 



An improved breed of our heavy draught-horses has of late years been at- 

 tempted, and with much success. Sufficient uprightness of shoulder is retained 

 for the purposes of draught, while a slight degree of obliquity has materially 

 quickened the pace and improved the appearance. 



Above its junction with the humerus, or lower division of the limb, the 

 shoulder-blade forms what is called the point of the shoulder. There is a 

 round blunted projection, best seen in the cut (p. 327). The neck of the 

 shoulder-blade there forms a shallow cavity, into which the head of the next 

 bone is received. 



The cavity is shallow because extensive motion is required, and because both 

 of the bones being so moveable, and the motion of the one connected so much 

 with that of the other, dislocation was less likely to occur. A capsular liga- 

 ment, or one extending round the heads of both bones, confines them securely 

 together. 



This joint is rarely or never dislocated ; and, should it suffer dislocation, the 

 muscles of the shoulder-blade and the lower bone of the shoulder are so strong, 

 that the reduction of it would be impossible. The point of the shoulder, how- 

 ever, projecting considerably, is much exposed to injury from accident or vio- 

 lence. Even turning in a narrow stall has inflicted a serious bruise. Fomenta- 

 tions of warm water will usually remove the tenderness and lameness, but 

 should they fail, blood should be taken from the plate vein, or, in very obstinate 

 cases, a blister should be resorted to. 



A description of the principal muscles of the shoulder-blade, their situation, 

 attachments, and use, may not be uninteresting to the lover of the horse, and 

 may guide his judgment as to the capability and proper form of that noble 

 animal. 



CUT OP MUSCLES ON THE OUTSIDE OP THE SHOULDER. 



a and 6, in the following cut, represent a portion of the Trapezius muscle attached 

 to the longer bones of the withers broadly and strongly and to the ligament and 

 fasciae of the neck (a portion of which is seen at 6), nan-owing below terminating 

 almost in a point, and inserted into a tubercle on the spine or ridge of the 

 shoulder-blade. It occupies the space between the withers and the upper part 

 of the shoulder-blade, and is large and strong in proportion to the height of the 

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

 the scapula to raise it, and likewise to draw it backward ; therefore, constituting 

 one of the most important muscles connected with the action of the horse, and 



