THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 59 



their condition was fully preserved, and that, by this means, 

 his horses entered on their hunting season in full ' wind, 

 speed, and bottom.^ Others, to avoid this extreme, have 

 soiled their hunters in the stable, or have given carrots ; 

 and some have gone a step further, and have pursued the 

 in-door summering, not in stables, but in loose boxes. 

 Still, in all these cases, regular exercise is required, or the 

 feet must suffer, or the horses are apt to become pursive, 

 thick-winded, roarers, or broken-winded ; but be it remem- 

 bered that, if such exercise is too severe, then the wear on 

 the limbs continues the deterioration which the hunting 

 season had brought on." 



SECTION VII. 



THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. THE BONES. 



Bones are the hardest, and in a state of health the most 

 insensible, substances in the entire body ; they sustain the 

 soft parts, and form the base of the frame. They are com- 

 posed of earth, gelatine, nerves, vessels, and membrane. 

 The membrane appears first formed, into which a gelatinous 

 fluid, that afterwards becomes cartilage, is deposited ; it 

 next becomes vascular, and gradually the arteries pour out 

 within the centre of each bone the earthy matter, until the 

 whole is completely consolidated. This consolidation does 

 not take place in all the bones until the full growth of the 

 animal ; neither are the stages of osseous evolution alike in 

 each bone ; those becoming soonest ossified whose use could 

 be least dispensed with. The bones of the horse are much 

 harder than those of man, and consequently stronger. The 

 deposit of earthy matter, and the consequent consolidation 

 of their substance, appears to be hastened by any thing that 

 permanently quickens the circulation, thus occasioning a 

 more speedy separation of the earthy parts from the blood : 

 it is thus that the inhabitants of warm climates come to 

 perfection sooner than those of the northern regions. But 

 by preternaturally hastening the earthy deposit in the bones 

 we check their growth ; thus, horses early and severely 

 worked, never arrive at their full size. 



The earthy matter of bones is continually changing by 



