298 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



footlock to the form of that in the English thoroughbred, in order to 

 give to their horses an appearance of fineness and quality which they 

 do not really possess. 



The ergot is a more or less voluminous horny production, which 

 occupies the posterior part of the fetlock in the middle of the hairs of 

 the footlock. 



In relation to comparative anatomy, by reason of its situation, its 

 connections, and the structures which form its base in some species, it 

 is considered as the vestige of an aborted digit. It is, however, with- 

 out interest from an external point of view. 



Like the footlock, it acquires quite a great length in common 

 horses. It is sometimes seen to divide under the influence of desicca- 

 tion, and in the end is shed oif. When it is too voluminous, it is cut 

 when the hairs of the footlock are being arranged, a useless practice in 

 well-bred animals, for with them it always has very feeble dimensions. 



The ergot, in spite of its apparent insignificance, plays none the less 

 a certain role of protection, in locomotion at great speed, in relation to 

 the posterior part of the fetlock, which the violence of the reactions 

 tends to lower to the ground. It is common to see on the race-course, 

 after a race, horses whose ergots are covered with blood from their use, 

 an evident proof that the fetlock must go down to the ground at each 

 time of the contact. It is always, in this case, the diagonal biped 

 upon which the horse gallops that is most injured, a result easy of ex- 

 planation, since the feet which constitute this biped support, in succes- 

 sion and singly, all the weight of the body multiplied by the velocity 

 of the locomotory movements. 



I.— The Pastern. 



Situation ; Limits.— The pastern is situated between the fet- 

 lock and the coronet; it is the narrowest part of the member of the 

 horse, and owes without doubt to this characteristic the name wrist, by 

 which it is also designated in ordinary language. 



Anatomical Base. — Its osseous base is formed by the first pha- 

 lanx, which gives to it, consequently, its oblique direction from above 

 downward and behind forward. We have made mention above (see 

 Fetloch) of all the mechanical advantages which depend upon the 

 inclination of the superior articular surfaces of this bone ; others will 

 be noticed when we discuss the obliquity of its great axis. We will 

 also revert to them in describing the function of the pastern as an 

 inclined plane receiving the weight of the body and transmitting it to 



