OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 23' 



CHAPTER II. 



OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 



, In discussing this subject, we propose to depart from the 

 method usually followed by anatomists in their divisions, 

 classes, and descriptions, and to present the whole subject 

 briefly in one distinct, connected chapter, and in its natural, 

 consecutive order. The classification of the horse among 

 other animals in natural history, and his relations to them, 

 are matters of no practical moment to the farmer and stock 

 dealer. To them the subjects of chief importance are the 

 horse's own peculiar history; his adaptation to the service of 

 man, and the best modes of training him and fitting him for 

 that purpose ; the general laws of health, and the means of 

 its preservation ; and the diseases to which he is subject, with 

 their proper treatment, and means for their prevention as 

 well as cure. It will be sufiicient, in a work like this, to 

 communicate a general knowledge of his structure, so that, 

 in the treatment of disease, the part affected may be readily 

 known, and the remedy intelligently applied. 



Our plan of discussion will be similar to that of the car- 

 penter in building a house, which concerns, first, the frame- 

 work ; next, the braces and pins that hold it together ; then 

 the covering, and, lastly, the inside finish. In the same man- 

 ner, we- will consider, first, the bones, which constitute the 

 frame- work of the horse ; next, the muscles and tendons — 

 the braces which fasten the former together; then the skin 

 and hair, the horse's covering; and, lastly, the internal finish — 

 the entire vascular arrangement of lungs, heart, intestines, 

 urinary organs, blood-vessels, capillaries, and pores, with the 

 whole glandular and nervous structure. 



Our limits allow, and our purpose requires, but a short 



