a58 tup: p^ore>legs. 



infusion of tobacco, or, what is equally effectual, a decoction of stavcsacre 

 seeds. The skin bemg once cleansed of them, attention to the condition 

 of the animal, and cleanliness will prevent their re-appearauce. 



CHAPTER XVI 



THE FOllE-LEGS. 



We arrive now at those parts of the frame which are most essentially 

 connected ^vith the action and value of the horse, and oftenest and most 

 annoyingly the subjects of disease. The extremities contain the whole 

 apparatus of voluntary motion, with which the action, and speed, and 

 .strength of the horse are most concerned. 



The fore-legs, when viewed in front, should be Avidest at the chest, and 

 should gradually approach to each other as we descend towards the fetlock. 

 The degree of width must depend on the purpose for which the horse is 

 wanted. The legs of a heavy draught-horse can scarcely be too far apart. 

 His rounded chest enables him to throw more weight into the collar ; and 

 not being required for speed, he wants not that occasionally increased ex- 

 pansion of chest which the circular form is not calculated to give. A 

 hunter, a hackney, and a coach-horse should have sufficient expansion of 

 the chest, or the legs sufficiently mde apart, to leave room for the play of 

 the lungs ; but depth more than roundness of chest is here requii-ed, 

 because the deep chest admits of most expansion when the horse, in rapid 

 action, and the circulation proportionally quickened, needs most room to 

 breathe ; yet, if the breast is too wide, there will be considei'able weight 

 thrown before, and the horse will be heavy in hand and unsafe. 



Whether the legs are near to each other or wide apart, they should be 



straig^ht. The elbow should not have the slightest inclination inward or 



... . . ^ . . 



outward. If it inclines toward the ribs, its action \at.11 be confined, and 



the leg will be thrown outward when in motion, and describe a cui'ious 

 and awkward curve. This will give a peculiar rolHng motion, unpleasant 

 to the rider and unsafe to the animal. The toe will likewise be turned 

 outward, which will not only prevent the foot from coming flat on the 

 ground in its descent, but be usually accompanied by cutting, even more 

 certainly than when the toe turns inward. If the elbow is turned outward 

 the toes will necessarily be turned inward, which is a great unsightliness, 

 and to a considerable degree injurious, for the weight cannot be perfectly 

 distributed over the foot — the iDearing cannot be true. There will also bo 

 undue pressure on the inner quarter, a tendency to unsafeness, and a dis- 

 position to sphnt and corn. The legs should come down perpendicularly 

 from the elbow. If they incline backward and under the horse, there is 

 undue stress on the extensor muscles ; and, the legs being brought 

 nearer the centre of gravity, too great weight is throAvn - forward, 

 and the horse is liable to knuckle over and become unsafe. Another 

 very unsightly defect is that called calf-legged, when the knee, in- 

 stead of being straight under the arm, curves backwards — it is an 

 unsafe and useless variation of form. If the legs have a direction forward, 

 the flexor muscles are strained, and the action of the horse is awkward and 

 confined. The toe should be found precisely under the point of the shoulder. 

 If it is a little more forward, the horse will probably be deficient in action; 

 if it is more under the horse, unsafeness will be added to still greater 

 defect in going. 



