28 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



it is not more than from an inch and a half to two inches in 

 length. The six lumbar vertebrae, or bones oi the loins, comes 

 next, and complete the spine proper. The spinal column, 

 however, is continued by the sacrum, (literally, the sacred 

 bone,) and the bones of the tail, whose number is not unir 

 form in different animals, but averages about seventeen. The 

 main bones of the hip unite with the spine and sacrum at 

 the termination of the lumbar vertebrae. 



Many anatomists, among whom is Youatt, adopt a slightly 

 different classification in regard to the bones of the spinal 

 column. They consider the sacrum to b.e made up of five 

 bones, which are denominated the sacral vertebrae. Some 

 writers, also, specify fifteen as the average number of bones 

 in the tail. 



Upon each side, at the shoulder, is a bone called the scap- 

 ula, the shoulder-blade. This unites, at its lower extremity, 

 with the humerus, from its articulation with which it spreads 

 out and becomes very thin, with a ridge like the letter "T" 

 running through its middle. It extends upward to the back- 

 bone, to which it is united by muscle alone. It is this bone 

 which is the seat of that dreadful disease swinney, or inflam- 

 mation of the shoulder. 



The ribs — eighteen upon each side — are so arranged as to 

 give form and strength to the body, and protect the vital 

 organs from injury. The sternum, or breast-bone, is com- 

 posed of six or seven pieces, and constitutes the floor of the 

 chest. It is a long, spongy bone, fixed between the ribs on 

 either side, serving as a support for the seven true ribs — the 

 forward ones — which closely articulate with it. 



We have thus given a sketch of the horse's entire frame- 

 work, with all the bones that compose it, and the principal 

 offices they perform. The diseases of the bones will be con- 

 sidered elsewhere. 



The bones are classified as the solid, the hollow, and the 

 spongy. The solid are the thin plate-bones, such as are 

 found in the head and the back portions of the jaw, and in 

 some parts of the body. The hollow bones are those of the 



