242 



THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



relation with the vertical axis. This is very different from the classical 

 teachings of a certain school, that all the superior segments of the 

 members should incline at an angle of 45 degrees with the horizon ! 



Finally, one more point of excellence in the thigh consists in its 

 being well away from the median plane towards its inferior extremity. 

 The region of the stifle, of which we will soon speak, will not, in this 

 case, be exposed, in rapid locomotion, to come in contact with the 

 abdominal parietes. If this separation, however, be too marked, it 

 will cause an outward deviation of the inferior parts of the limb. 

 Many horses, close behind and outbow-footed, owe the faulty direction 

 of their posterior extremities to this cause. (See Vertical Axes.) 



Length. The length of the thigh, it can be plainly seen, must 

 be in close relation with the amplitude of the oscillations of which it 

 is capable ; besides, it governs the degree of the displacements of the 

 tibia. In our opinion, it should be computed from the coxo-femoral 

 articulation to the inferior part of the stifle. But its variations mani- 

 fest themselves principally at the level of its posterior border. They 

 are usually characterized by different expressions. Thus, such a buttock 

 is said to be long or well descended (Fig. 73), which constitutes for this 



FIG. 73. 



FIG. 74. 



region a beauty of the first order, and of which the English thorough- 

 bred, especially, offers a remarkable example. 



When the thigh is deficient in length, it renders the buttock round 

 and short (Fig. 74), a defect which may also be due to too small a 

 femoro-tibial an^le. The buttock is also named salient when its point 



