294 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



Thickness. The thickness is the transverse diameter. It indi- 

 cates the large development, from side to side, of the inferior extremity 

 of the canon and of the corresponding part of the first phalanx. It is 

 needless to insist upon the advantages of these peculiarities ; it stands 

 to reason that they denote large articular surfaces, and firmness and 

 sureness of the step, important conditions to exact whatever may be 

 the service. 



The fetlock which is deficient by lack of width and thickness, by 

 lack of volume, in a word, is called small, round ; the animal is also 

 said to have thin, light wrists, to be wanting in the wrists, to have weak 

 pins, etc. 



Direction. To the two preceding qualities it is important to add 

 a third, that is, the good direction of the segments which concur to 

 the formation of this articulation. We know already that one of them, 

 the canon, should be vertical ; as to the other, it implies a certain 

 obliquity which we will determine when we treat of the pastern. 

 Suffice it to say for the present, that this obliquity would be greatly 

 exaggerated if it attained only 40 or 45 degrees with the horizon ; in 

 any well-conformed horse it attains at least 55 degrees. 



When the branches of the spring represented by the fetlock 

 straighten themselves one upon the other, their angle becomes more 

 and more obtuse and even tends to become effaced. The animal is 

 then said to be straight in the members, in the fetlocks. In certain cases, 

 however, the deviation of the segments is such that their obliquity 

 takes place in a sense inverse to that which they normally affect ; the 

 summit of the articular angle is directed forward while its sine looks 

 backward. This is a somewhat common deformity to which the name 

 knuckling has been given. We will treat of this with the pastern and 

 the axes of the members. 



At other times, an accidental, momentary deviation results from 

 fatigue, and exists only in the fetlock of the posterior members, which 

 are suddenly projected forward when the animal stands still and 

 reassurae their proper situation as soon as he steps out again. This 

 singular attitude, which is manifested also in the stable, is expressed by 

 saying that the horse is at roost. 



Finally, when this deviation, instead of being parallel to the median 

 plane, in front of or behind the axis of the member, is situated in an 

 oblique plane, outward or inward, in relation to the median plane of 

 the body, the horse is qualified splay-footed or parrot-toed. It is a vice 

 of the axes of the members which we will study in a future chapter. 



Fineness. The fineness or dryness of the fetlock implies a 



