THE SHOULDER. 49 



possibility of the scapula being properly accommodated to them : 

 a flattened body applied against one that is convex must necessa- 

 rily project as the latter recedes from it; and the only way in 

 which this can be obviated is, either to diminish or alter the 

 convexity, or to give to the straight body a concave form ; both of 

 which accommodations are seen exemplified in what we call "good- 

 shouldered horses." The rising is caused by the top of the sca- 

 pula standing out from the convexity of the ribs : where this is 

 not the case, the surface appears and feels uniformly level, and, 

 where muscles or fat abound, is so smooth that we in vain seek 

 the traces of the scapula through the skin. The uprightness and 

 the length of the scapula likewise, in some instances, operate in 

 producing the rising. In any case, the unevenness betrays mal- 

 proportion or mal-apposition of parts : in other words, would not 

 be present if all had been formed and fitted to perfection. 



A shoulder, then, that possesses depth, obliquity, and uniformity, 

 is said to be " good ;" and for the purposes of those springy 

 actions and paces which are most agreeable to and admired by 

 the rider, good it most unquestionably is : it is good for action, 

 good for speed, good for spring, and as a point of beauty is verita- 

 bly indispensable. Still, though this be confessedly the proto- 

 type, we are not to set all other kinds and descriptions of shoulders 

 down as faulty and objectionable. For the carriage of heavy bur- 

 then, and for heavy draught, I believe a straight or upright and 

 rather short shoulder, provided it possesses the necessary sub- 

 stance or muscularity, to be advantageous : laborious draught does 

 not admit either of a horse taking long steps or of going at any 

 but a slow pace ; and on abstract mechanical principles, a horse 

 whose shoulder is short and upright is capable of supporting more 

 weight upon his fore limbs than another in whom it is lengthy and 

 oblique : the sharper the angle formed between the scapula and 

 the humerus, and again between the humerus and radius, the 

 weaker, as props of support, must the fore limbs be considered. 

 A horse, therefore, with a short upright shoulder is, cceferis pari- 

 bus, actually stronger in his fore parts than one possessing what 

 we might call a good or handsome shoulder; Here, in fact, as in 

 many other instances that might be mentioned, we have on the 

 one side, action,. — and with it spring — on the other, strength ; and, 



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