ANTERIOR MEMBER. 213 



more remarkable for the density, fineness, and cleanness of their fibres 

 than those of the heavy Percheron, in ^vhich they are yoluminous, short, 

 and separated by an abundance of connective tissue. In the one case, 

 the muscles communicate to the region a long, slender, and graceful 

 appearance ; in the other, it is the mass, the volume, the power. We 

 should never demand a muscular development which changes all in all 

 the conditions of its intended utilization. 



When the osseous eminences of the shoulder, especially its scapular 

 spine, its point, its tuberosity, its dorsal angle, and its cartilage of pro- 

 longation, form a prominence somewhat marked, which allows us to 

 surmise the situation of these parts, it is called well outlined. This is 

 the form which it presents in all horses belonging to the finer breeds. 



When, on the contrary, the same reliefs are very apparent under- 

 neath the skin, from the effect of a commencing emaciation or muscular 

 atrophy, as is observed in horses exhausted by fatigue or privations, it 

 is called meagre or lean, and expresses a certain feebleness of the loco- 

 motory apparatus. When, finally, this emaciation is such that the 

 scapula can be almost completely outlined under the integument by its 

 reliefs and its general configuration ; when the situation of the super- 

 and sub-spinati muscles is manifested by a deep depression ; when tlie 

 scapular cartilage is delimited above by a prominent curve from before 

 to behind ; wlien, in a word, the region as a whole overhangs, so to 

 speak, the adjacent parts of surrounding regions, as the neck, ribs, 

 withers, back, it is called atrophied. 



Conversely, if the muscles, instead of being deficient in bulk, ex- 

 ceed a volume compatible with their special service, a volume demanded, 

 besides, for general harmony ; if, for example, they affect, in the saddle- 

 horse, a volume which would be sought for in the draught-horse, they 

 will render the movements clumsy by surcharging the anterior part 

 of the body, oppose themselves to the complete extension of the ante- 

 rior member, and diminish the force of propulsion engendered by the 

 hind limbs in rapid locomotion. In these conditions the shoulder 

 receives the appellations of massive, fleshy, thick, charged with too much 

 muscle, etc. 



Diseases 9,nd Blemish.es. — These are denudations and excoriations, due to 

 a mal-fitting collar, which may terminate in smooth or radiating cicatrices 

 formed by a portion of the skin which is deprived of its hair, thinner, irritable, 

 and much less resisting to friction. The seat of these wounds is at the level of 

 the anterior borders of the shoulders, where they appear flat and circumscribe 

 the base of the neck. Horse-dealers never fail to point to these as a proof that 

 the horse is free in the collar. Of but little gravity in themselves, they consti- 

 tute, nevertheless, a cause of depreciation in view of the increased sensitivenes.* 



