LESSONS IN HORSE JUDGING. 6Y 



of bones in it and of the same shape nearly, but 

 larger. From our wrist joint five lengths of bone 

 proceed, but in the horse, who is a solipede, only 

 one length proceeds. This one length faithfully 

 represents our middle finger from the wrist joint 

 to the tip covered by the nail. Now, beginning 

 at the shoulder-blade and going downwards, let 

 us compare our extremity with its homologue, as 

 anatomists call it, in the horse. You are not to 

 be impatient and question the use of it, until you 

 have patiently waded through what I have got to 

 tell you, and then say whether it is of use. The 

 two extremities are given in Fig. 8. 



4A. — The scapulae of man and horse are both 

 flat bones and both triangular bones, with a very 

 strong ridge of bone running down their middle 

 or nearly down their middle. This ridge of bone 

 serves many purposes. First it strengthens the 

 bone without adding materially to its bulk, just 

 as the engineer shapes his iron which has to 

 bridge across a space and to bear great weight, 

 and have as httle weight as possible. Second, 

 you notice this 'spine,' as it is called, is less in 

 proportion in the horse than it is in man, and 

 that in the horse it is not continued into a long, 

 strong process. The reason of this difference is 

 that the horse only uses his fore extremities to 

 walk with; he has no 'collar' bone or 'clavicle,' 

 as it is called by anatomists. Now the collar 

 bone is a long bone at the top of our chests in 

 front, shaped like the old-fashioned letter s, like 

 this /, and it has one end placed against the top 

 and side of the breast bone, but its other end 



