CHAPTER III. 



THE LOCOMOTOR APPARATUS OF THE FOOT. 



The extremity of the horse's limb possesses no muscular 



tissues, and the struc- 

 tures which move the 

 bones of the foot act 

 through the medium 

 of long, powerful ten- 

 dons. In the front 

 limb the muscles 

 themselves are situ- 

 ated above the knee 

 and around the fore- 

 arm, in the hind above 

 the hock and around 

 the leg or, as it is 

 sometimes called, 

 second thigh. In 

 construction and in 

 the arrangement of 

 their tendons, which, 

 for our purpose, alone 

 demand considera- 

 tion, there is no 

 essential difference 

 between the fore and 

 hind limbs. Tlie 

 movements of the 

 bones of the foot occur in two directions. Movement for- 

 wards we term extension, movement backwards, flexion. The 

 extensor tendons lie in front of, the flexor behind, the bones 

 of the limb. 



40 



Fig. 25. — Antero-exterual view of right fore-foot, a, exten- 

 sor pedis tendon ; 6, superior sesamoidean or suspensory 

 ligament; b', prolongation of sup. -sesamoidean lig. (lig. 

 extensorum) ; c, extensor suffraginis tendon. 



