SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 



233 



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and the slanting of tlie shoulder. Its use is evidently to support the 

 shoulder, to raise it, and likewise to draw it backward ; therefore, con- 

 stituting one of the most important muscles connected with the action of 

 the horse, and illustrating- the advantage of high withers and a slanting 

 shoulder. A portion of it is represented as turned back, to show other 



muscles beneath. A mo- 

 ment's inspection will con- 

 vince the reader, that al- 

 though we may have been 

 justified in objecting to a 

 low forehead and thick 

 shoulder, yet still some ful- 

 ness and fleshiness are ne- 

 cessary, even about the 

 withers; otherwise, although 

 there may be height of 

 withers, and obliquity of 

 shoulder, to give extensive 

 action, there will not be 

 sufficient muscular power to 

 work the machine with 

 either quickness or continu- 

 ance. 



At c is a portion of the 

 levator humeri (the raiser 

 of the shoulder), descending 

 even from the tubercle at the 

 back of the head (see cut, 

 page 63), and from the base 

 of the temporal bone, and 

 attaching itself to the first 

 four bones of the neck, and 

 to the ligament of the neck ; 

 inserting itself into the 

 covering of the muscles of 

 the shoulder, and the -mus- 

 cles about the point of the 

 shoulder, and at length ter- 

 minating in a ridge on the 

 lower bone of the shoulder. 

 It is a muscle of immense power and great utility, raising and drawing 

 forward the shoulder and the arm, and, when these are fixed, turning the 

 head and neck if one acts, and depressing them if the muscles on both 

 sides act at the same time. 



At d is a portion of the great saw-like or tooth-shaped muscle of the 

 shoulder, constituting the bulk of the lower part of the neck ; deeply 

 seated ; arising, as here seen, from the five last bones of the neck, and 

 the two first ribs, and the lower portion of it springing from all the true 

 ribs ; all the fibres tending towards, and inserted into the inner surface 

 of the shoulder; and by means of which the shoulder is attached to the 

 chest, and the immense weight of the body supported. We have already 

 spoken of the use of this muscle in obviating concussion. 



When the horse is standing, this muscle occasionally discharges another 

 important function. The shoulders and legs are then rendered fixed, 

 and immoveable by the weight of the body ; and this muscle no longer 



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