ATTITUDES. 



461 



If it is that of the toe, he becomes crooked-legged behind. 



Conversely : 



When the member, as a whole, is deviated inward from the ver- 

 tical, or if the separation of the hoofs alone is too small, the animal 

 is called dosed behind. 



If it is simply the hock, the latter is 

 styled dose, close-hammed, cow-hocked. 



Finally, if it is the region of the toe, the 

 horse becomes cross-footed behind. 



Horse too Open Behind (Fig. 165). 

 Two different types of conformation may 

 give rise to this defect, for the direct axes 

 of the posterior members, in order to be 

 properly situated under the body, should 

 not only follow the vertical, but also main- 

 tain between them a proper degree of sepa- 

 ration. In some horses the line of axis 

 divides the hock, the canon, the fetlock, and 

 the foot, as in the normal conformation ; the 

 interval comprised between the two hoofs is, 

 alone, greater than the width of the fetlock. 

 There are others, on the contrary, whose 

 members are deviated to the outer side of 

 the vertical line and in which the distance 

 between the two hoofs is too great. It is 

 this disposition which is represented in the 

 figure. 



In -the first case, the injurious effects 

 are of little importance and only depreciate 



horses used for speed, by augmenting to excess the base of posterior 

 support and producing a rocking motion behind, detrimental to the 

 speed of the gait, but without any unfavorable influence upon the, 

 other services. The wide opening behind is due, ordinarily, to the 

 width of the thorax and the croup, as well as to the development of 

 the muscles. There is nothing very unfortunate in this, as Merche ' 

 has remarked, in heavy draught-horses and colts of the common races. 

 It should, under the circumstances, even be considered as a point of 

 beauty, if it can be demonstrated that it is compatible with the exist- 

 ence of a regular axis. And as the latter does not exclude it, this is 



FIG. 165. 



i Merche, Nouveau Trait<J des formes exterieures du cheval, p. 508, Paris, 1868. 



