18 HOESES AND EIDING. 



What is commonlj meant by a liorse's shoulder 

 is one large flat bone called the scapula. This bone 

 begins at the withers — that is, the point where the 

 mane ends — and extends to the breast in a slanting 

 direction ; and the more it slants the better as a rule 

 the horse's shoulder and action is. The upper bone 

 of the leg, from the knee to the horse's body, is 

 called the radius, and between this bone and the 

 scapula, or shoulder, is a shorter bone, called the 

 humerus. The humerus is slanting as well as the 

 scapula, but in the contrary direction ; that is, 

 the bottom of the scapula and the top of the humerus 

 are the forwardest. Now, it must be borne in mind 

 that while the scapula is better placed the more it 

 slants and the less upright it is, the humerus, on the 

 other hand, is better placed the less it slants and the 

 more upright it is. 



It is want of knowledge of this fact which causes 

 a horse's shoulders to be often wrongly estimated. 

 People are apt to think that if two horses have the 

 same inclination of the scapula their shoulders and 

 action will be the same, whereas one horse may have 

 very good shoulders and the other very moderate. 

 If you take two horses with the same slant of the 

 shoulder-bone, and the humerus of one is very much 

 inclined, while the humerus of the other is nearly 

 upright, the latter horse will have very much the 

 better action of the two. 



I need not point out that as the humerus is joined 



