320 REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



connected with good action in the horse, and is therefore one of the points 

 looked at by jockeys. 



The bones of the other extremity of the horse correspond with the arm, the 

 fore-arm, the wrist, the hand, and the fingers in man. In man the hand forms 

 the prehensile organ, and a great flexibility is given to the different bones which 

 form it. In the horse these bones form the limbs of support. They are not 

 designed to seize objects, but to support the weight of the animal before, to be 

 raised from the ground when he pushes himself forward by the extension of 

 the limbs behind, and to receive his weight when he again reaches the ground. 



The scapula or shoulder-blade is in the horse, as in man, a large flat trian- 

 gular bone, placed upon the ribs, and connected by means of muscles with the 

 head, the ribs, and the spine. In man, the two scapulae are kept from approach- 

 ing each other by the clavicle or collar-bone. From the form and position of 

 the horse, this approximation cannot take place; and there is therefore no collar- 

 bone in the horse. 



Into a cavity of the scapula is jointed on each side the humerus. But the 

 humerus, or arm from the shoulder to the elbow, is in man detached as it were 

 from the body, while in the horse it seems to form a part of it; and in this po- 

 sition it has sufficient power of motion. It is bent, as will be seen from the 

 figure, an admirable and necessary provision to lessen the shocks which the 

 animal receives on bringing his limbs to the ground; for by this flexure they 

 act the part of a spring. Were these bones vertical, the limb would be shat- 

 tered when it struck the ground. 



The shoulder of the horse should be oblique, and the humerus relatively 

 short. The obliquity of the shoulder is a point connected with action in the 

 horse; and the reason why the humerus should not be long will appear from 

 the function which it has to perform. When the animal moves the limb for- 

 ward to raise it from the ground, the humerus has to describe an arch of a cir- 

 cle; but the muscular power being sufficient, the shorter radius describes an 

 equal arch with a longer. 



The next of the bones are two, the radius and ulna united together in the 

 horse, forming the fore-arm in man, and what is termed the fore-arm in the 

 horse. The termination of the ulna, corresponding with the elbow, forms an 

 important point of the horse, because to it are attached powerful muscles for 

 the movement of the limb. Jockeys accordingly look with attention to the 

 size of the elbow of the horse. 



The remaining bones of the limb correspond with the bones of the wrist, the 

 hand, and the fingers, in man, termed respectively the carpal, metacarpal, and 

 the phalangeal bones. 



The carpal bones of the horse are commonly called the bones of the knee; but 

 these bones do not correspond with the knee, but with the wrist, of the human 

 body. They are 8 in number in the horse as well as in man. In man, they 

 give flexibility to the hand; in the horse, they give flexibility to the limb of 

 support. 



The next bones are the metacarpal bones. These correspond with the 

 bones of the hand in man: but in man they form a part of a prehensile organ; 

 in the horse they are extended in order to give length to the limb. 



The bones of the fetlock and foot correspond with the phalangeal bones, or 

 bones of the finger in man. They are distinct in man; they are together in 

 the horse, and, touching the ground at their extremities, are defended by horn. 



The horse, abstracted from his neck, and viewed in profile, is contained 

 nearly within a square, of which the body form?: one half and the limbs form 

 one half. In this respect the form of the horse differs greatly from that of the 

 ox, the body and limbs of the ox, abstracted from the neck, being included in a 

 rectangle, in the manner to be afterwards shown, and the body forming a 

 greater proportion of the rectangle than the limbs. This circumstance would 

 alone account for the greater power of progression of the horse than the ox. 



In the horse, while sufficient space must be given in the size of the body to 

 the respiratory and nutritive organs, this space must not be too great, because 

 then the body will bear too large a proportion to the limbs for the purpose of 

 active motion. In the ox the larger the proportion of the fleshy matter of the 

 body to the limbs the better. 



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