THE SKELETON. lo 



(4) Tlie propulsion, or the free swinging-off, must 

 be light but powerful, extending and springy, neither 

 jerk-like nor contractile, but the hoof should hold 

 out long in the air and show the shoe, without 

 turning over the fetlock. 



All these movements should pass over into each 

 other with ease, without making the impression of 

 great exertion. 



Let us now consider which proportions in the 

 framework most favor the action of the hind legs. 



The sjmial column rests firm and immovable upon 

 the haunch bones, whose foremost parts are visible 

 in the projecting hip bones, and are ending in the 

 ischium bones, which form the posterior parts of the 

 haunches. Between the hip and the ischium bones, 

 but considerably nearer the latter, the haunch 

 bones have on either side a socket, in which the 

 head of the thigh bones are inserted. 



This latter bone it is which moves the whole hind 

 leg attached to it, forward and backward. The 

 wider the circle described by the thigh bone around 

 its centre, the further can the hoof be placed for- 

 ward under or backward behind the body. The 

 most room for the placement of a long thigh bone 

 will be under a haunch lying nearly horizontal, but 

 its lower end, the stifle-joint, should not transgress 

 the vertical line from the hip to the ground. 



