EXTERIOR. 51 



magnitude of their elevation above the cartilage of the 

 scapulum. Hence, from successive experiments made by 

 D'Alfort, the professor of anatomy, it is very unusual for 

 beautiful withers to exceed more than seven centimetres, 

 the summit of the cartilage of the shoulder. 



The first dorsal vertebrae give their spinous 

 apophysis as the basis of the withers ; their crests 

 diminish in length fairly rapidly from the neck, and yet 

 only reach the level of those of the back at the eleventh. 



The withers should be thick at their base, which is 

 indicative of the amount of the muscles, which should 

 never be emaciated. Too hollowed and too lean, when 

 the depression of their juncture with the shoulder become 

 over-emphasized, they would in that case be deprived of 

 the elasticity necessary to withstand a shock, or to 

 momentarily counteract an error in the harnessing. 



The withers should be high, because the more 

 elongated and the more numerous are the composing 

 apophyses, so much the more efficient are they both for 

 the facilitation of the contractions of the neck, as well as 

 for the extension of the hind limbs and the suspension of 

 the trunk. 



Withers which plainly and without too much leanness 

 exceed the summit of the scapula are said to be well- 

 defined. They should be sought for in the conformation 

 of the saddle-horse, because they make the animal more 

 amenable, and its head lighter. 



In this case, the horse being high in front and 

 efficiently saddled, it lifts itself easily and throws the 

 centre of gravity to the rear. 



If the withers be fat and encumbered with flesh, the 

 animal having the anterior less elevated, is said to be low 

 in front ; the limbs grow weary, and both saddle and 

 rider slip nearer the neck, as does the centre of gravity. 



The chest (6, fig. 31) is anterior to the sternum. It 

 forms a continuation of the neck, and is limited on each 

 side by the shoulders and arms. Because of the muscular 

 thickness, its breadth in the upper portion is only slightly 

 dependent on the opening of the first ribs, which in very 

 many instances show but slight variation of their oval 

 shape. 



The vigorous draught-horses form the exception to 



