POSTERIOR MEMBER. 240 



the leg is well outlined and powerful. In the opposite conformation, the 

 leg is lean, fiat, or frog-like, from analogy with that of the familiar 

 batrachian. That is a grave defect, particularly in the draught-horse. 



The leg should also be wide in the vicinity of the tarsus. The 

 calcanean cord must be distinctly separated from the tibia, for then the 

 probabilities are that this separation is due to the length of the cal- 

 caneum, that arm of the lever of the muscles which produces the 

 impulsion, the extension of the hock. 



Nevertheless, let no error be committed here ; the separation in 

 question may depend upon another factor : a more or less accentuated 

 inclination of the tibia upon the canon. 



It is evident, from the mere examination of the diagrams of Fig. 

 75, representing two tibiae, OM and ON, differently inclined upon their 

 respective canons, that the wider leg is also the more inclined of the 

 two, OM, although its calcanean lever, OC, may be absolutely of the 

 same length as that, OD, of the straight leg, ON. 



Fig. 75. 



It is therefore requisite, at all times, to take into consideration the 

 direction of the tibia in estimating the value of the width of the 

 inferior part of the tibial region. 



Thickness. — In order to estimate properly the muscular devel- 

 opment of this region, it is necessary to consider its thickness, — in 

 other words, its transverse diameter. This can be appreciated by 

 examining the horse obliquely from in front, or by viewing it from 



