ANTERIOR MEMBER. 219 



to be dependent on the phenomenon of speed. The inclination and the 

 disposition of the articular angles will also very often enable us to 

 judge the amount of thoroughbred blood in such animals. It is, by 

 no means, not the same in slow draught-horses. We frequently 

 meet in them a straight shoulder supported on an oblique arm. The 

 obliquity of the humerus in such cases is not a defect, for it favors the 

 power of the muscles by rendering their insertions more perpendicular. 

 The shortness of the step, the inevitable consequence of such a con- 

 formation, offers nothing of special interest, since, in motors of this 

 nature, the ultimate purpose does not consist m the extent but in the 

 power of the effort produced. 



Direction of the Arm in Relation with the Median Plane 

 of the Body. — The long axis of the arm, in order that its displace- 

 ments may be effected properly, should be almost parallel to the median 

 plane of the body. If its inferior extremity is directed too much out- 

 ward, the whole member is deviated in the same degree, the relation 

 of the vertical lines is disturbed, and the foot is turned inward. This 

 is called cross-footed. If, on the contrary, the elbow be deviated 

 inward, the inferior part of the limb is turned outward (see crooked- 

 legged horse). We will again refer to these a propos of the axes. 



Muscularity. — The development of the muscles is an absolute 

 beauty. It is preferredly appreciated by the prominence and width 

 of the olecranon muscles (extensors of the forearm), wliich occupy the 

 triangular space between the scapula and the humerus, and by the 

 relief formed by the humeral biceps in front of this region. 



Diseases and Blemishes. — The region of the arm is, in most instances, 

 exempt from these lesions. Contusions and, more raxeXy , fractures, the result of 

 kicks received from other horses, when they are worked in file, running in pas- 

 ture, in public exhibitions, or during transportation on railroads, are the principal 

 alterations of this nature which are observed in this region. Rupture of the 

 fibres of the coraco-radialis muscle is sometimes a cause of lameness. 



C— The Elbow. 



Situation ; Limits ; Anatomical Base. — The elbow, situated 

 between the arm and the forearm, and in front of the xiphoid region, 

 has for its base the superior extremity of the cubitus, a voluminous 

 apophysis called the olecranon. It gives attachment principally to the 

 extensors of the forearm. 



The elbow offers for consideration three elements : its length, a 

 good direction, and its freedom from blemishes. 



Length. — The osseous process which forms the olecranon repre- 



