SUPERIOR FACE OF THE BODY. 143 



This is the usual form which it exhibits in very fat horses, or in those 

 whose croup is of insufficient width. We have sufficiently discussed 

 this defect and will not return to it here. 



From the preceding statements it follows that it is scarcely possible 

 to draw any indications of importance from the mere examination of" 

 the haunches. Nevertheless, this is not the view taken by certain hip- 

 potomists. The reason for this difference of opinion lies in the follow- 

 ing considerations. Bourgelat first described this region as having for 

 its base the whole of the ilium, including that part of the body ex- 

 tending from the external angle of that bone to the coxo-femoral articu- 

 lation. Many of his disciples, following his example, have made use 

 of such expressions as long, short, narrow, ivide, straight, and oblique 

 haunehes, terms which are still used in the veterinary world, but whose 

 meaning is hard to determine, if we take them in their literal sense. 



It is easy to see that it is illogical to make such a distinction as to 

 separate the anterior part of the coxa from the posterior, to call the one 

 part a haunch and the other a Group, to examine separately structures 

 which are so intimately united and so harmoniously blended in their 

 nature and their anatomy. Accordingly, to avoid those repetitions and 

 confusions which otherwise would not fail to spring up in our minds, 

 the haunch is best regarded as only a secondary region of the croup, 

 interesting us by reason of its particular forms, and, more especially, 

 its blemishes. These are the reasons why we have imitated those of 

 our predecessors who have not accepted the distinction established by 

 Bourgelat. 



Diseases and Blemishes. — The haunch may be the seat of excoriations 

 and wounds of more or less gravity, and sometimes accompanied by severe com- 

 plications. They are always found on horses which have been injured by 

 passing through narrow door-ways, on those which have to keep the recumbent 

 position for a long time after surgical operations or during serious diseases, upon 

 a bed with insufficient litter, or, finally, in those which, suffering from violent 

 attacks of colic, throw themselves on the ground. 



In other cases, the haunch is the seat of hcBviatomata (blood-tumors), cysts, 

 abscesses, bruises, partial or total fractures. The latter are followed by marked 

 deformities of this region ; one haunch is lower than the other, from the fact that 

 the detached portion is carried downward and forward by the contraction of the 

 muscle of the fascia lata and the small oblique of the abdomen. The lameness 

 which exists at the outset of such an accident disappears at the expiration of a 

 certain time, but the deformity will always persist. An animal which presents 

 it is called hip-shot ; it has received a stroke from a broom. 



" Finally, it is possible that in young horses the centre of ossification 

 which forms the tuberosity of the external angle of the ilium may become 

 detached by the force of muscular contractions, as when the animal is forced 



