3i8 THE HIND LIMB. 



of some horses being better "let down," than those of 

 other horses, has gained currency ? As regards the fore 

 hmb, the answer is easy ; for the knee of a leg which has 

 a comparatively short cannon-bone and a sloping pastern, 

 would naturally be somewhat closer to the ground, than it 

 would be, were the cannon-bone long and the pastern 

 upright. Besides, the appearance of a comparatively 

 long cannon-bone may, I venture to think, give the im- 

 pression of greater length below the knee and hock, than 

 would be the case, were the cannon-bone short in com- 

 parison to the pastern. The popular opinion that the 

 length from hock to toe, as compared to that from hock 

 to stifle — irrespective of the slope of the pastern — is less in 

 some horses than in others, is founded, in all probability, 

 on an optical delusion. If we examine Fig. 389 we shall 

 see a hock which certainly gives us the idea that it is " well 

 let down " ; but a look at Fig. 394 will convey to our 

 minds the opposite kind of impression. And yet if we 

 take a pair of dividers and describe a circle, with the point 

 of the hock as a centre, and its distance from the toe as a 

 radius, we shall find that in the case of both Fig. 389 and 

 Fig. 394, the circumference will cut the curved fold of skin 

 near the groin at the same point ! For convenience' sake, 

 I have taken these measurements, which are sufficiently 

 accurate for the purpose in question ; although it would 

 have been more correct to have made them from the hock 

 joint to the toe, and to the stifle joint, respectively. From 

 whence arises, then, this difference of appearance between 

 these two hind limbs, as regards the height of the hock 

 off the ground ? The evident reply to this is the fact that 

 the hock in Fig. 389 being " straight " (p. 314), gives the 

 impression to the observer that it is better " let down," 

 than the " bent " hock in Fig. 394 ; for, as the eye runs 

 down the limb, it will not be so abruptly arrested by 

 the former, as by the latter kind of conformation. Also, 

 the broader the bone is immediately below the hock (con- 

 trast Fig. 390 with Fig. 395), as compared to the width 



