220 



THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



Fig. fiC— Reproduction from an instantaneous 

 photograph. 



sents the arm of a long lever for the muscles to which it gives attach- 

 ment. Charged to maintain, during station, the summit of the humero- 

 radial angle continually tend- 

 ing to become closed from 

 the pressure of the body- 

 weight, and to produce ex- 

 tension of the same angle in 

 the propulsion of the trunk 

 (Fig. 66), and, finally, to 

 b^ing the antibrachial re- 

 gion into its primitive posi- 

 tion, during locomotion, 

 these muscles act so much 

 the more favorably as the 

 arm of the lever in ques- 

 tion is longer and more 

 curved backward. Prefer- 

 ence should therefore be given to an elongated and prominent elbow, 

 rather than to one which, in a word, encroaches much upon the arm. 



Direction. — The direction of the elbow is related to that of the 

 arm. It is considered fine or beautiful when it occupies a plane par- 

 allel to the axis of the body, and when, besides, this plane is suffi- 

 ciently separated from the lateral fiices of the thorax. The elbows are 

 then said to be well separated and well directed. 



If, from the feeble development of the muscles which separate the 

 anterior limb from the ribs, the region in question, although always 

 parallel to the median plane, is too close to the thoracic walls, the 

 horse has the elbows on the body. It then lacks vigor, energy, and 

 amplitude of the breast. 



When the elbow is turned outward, the inferior extremity of the 

 meml)er is deviated inward, which characterizes the animal as being 

 pigeon-toed; if, on the contrary, the elbow is turned obliquely inward, 

 the foot is directed outward, and the animal is said to be outbow-footed. 

 Each one of these directions is vicious, because it renders the 

 movements of locomotion ungraceful, disturbs the vertical axis of the 

 members, predisposes them to premature ruin, even including the 

 effects from speedy cut and interfering. 



Freedom from Blemishes. — Wounds of the region of the elbow may be 

 the consequence of the improper application of the belly-band, when the horse 

 is worked in the shafts, particularly of two-wheeled vehicles or the cart. 



Most frequently they are due to the mode in which the decubitus is effected. 



