BOWED KNEES 303 



BOWED KNEES 



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This affection is very common in foals at the time of birth, and to 

 sucli an extent does it occasionally exist, that the breeder is doubtful as to 

 whether the young animal will ever become upright upon his legs. How- 

 ever, it is often the case that young foals, more or less malformed in this 

 direction, become quite straight upon their limbs as time goes on; indeed, 

 sucli a formation is generally more pleasing to the breeder, if not present 

 in too great a degree, than that called calf-kneed, a position the reverse of 

 the one we have just described. In the latter case the anterior part of the 

 fore-leg, in a line from above downwards, is concave, and the posterior part 

 is convex; and while in knees bowed forward the owner looks for daily 

 improvement in the form of his foal's legs, in the backward malformation 

 he is assured from experience that no improvement can be anticipated. In 

 the adult horse we occasionally observe "bowed knees" in legs that were 

 originally upright, or perhajjs had only a slight tendency to be bowed; the 

 animal having been put to hard work on the road, or hunted for three or 

 four years, by the time he lias become eight years old his legs are so de- 

 formed, so much over at the knees, that while standing they appear incajjabl 

 of supporting the weight of the fore parts of his body. There are many 

 persons who consider such horses unsafe both to ride and drive; l)ut 

 experience teaches us that these fears are, to a great extent, unfounded. 

 It is not to be understood, however, that we consider such a form of the 

 fore-legs as safe as those we term perfect. But let us endeavour to 

 ascertain what gives rise to this affection in the working horse, since to 

 account for congenital deformity in the foal would be altogether beside 

 the purpose. 



Various hypotheses have been advanced as to what parts are impli- 

 cated which would cause this alteration in the form of the carpus. Some 

 persons consider it to dejjend on a relaxed and lengthened state of the 

 extensors, others on that of the ligamentous tissue at the anterior part of 

 the knee; and again there are others who assert that it consists in an 

 inoixlinate contraction of the flexors, and to such an extent that the equi- 

 librium of the two sets of muscles (namely, the flexors and extensors) is 

 destroyed. Now, although the last hypothesis seems the most feasible, still 

 the results of my dissections of the fore-legs of horses thus affected — and 

 which were purposely selected — certainly do not confirm any of those 

 opinions. 



The only muscles likely to produce a curving forward of the knee are 

 the three wdiich flex the metacarpus on the carpus, their attachments being 



