THE ARM. 61 



as if they had no elbows : the protuberances are either so short or 

 stand so in or upright, that they are not perceptible to the eye, and 

 can hardly be felt ; which I look upon, myself, as a great deficiency, 

 though it is one that, even by "judges," is not at all times noticed. 

 People invariably pay great attention to hocks, but seem to over- 

 look elbows ; as I said before, however, for my own part, I do think 

 that length and form of elbow is a point of considerable importance, 

 and as such, I never lose sight of it. 



At mature age, the arm of the horse is composed of a single 

 bone — the radius : the ulna being, in truth, but a process. And the 

 radius is a bone of superior strength, its great length, with the 

 weight and shocks, and muscular action it has to sustain, requiring 

 that it should be so. Two smaller bones of the same length would 

 have been too liable to fracture. Entering into the structure of the 

 fore limb are two long straight shafts of support : the radius consti- 

 tutes the uppermost of these, the cannon or leg bone the under- 

 most ; all the other supporters being angularly disposed. 



The radius in itself, however, is not a mathematically straight 

 bone : between one extremity and the other it is slightly curved, 

 after the manner of a bow, the convexity of which is presented 

 forwards ; so that were it placed upon a table or any level surface, 

 with, its hinder part turned downward, it would form a very ex- 

 tended arc ; and this shape it is which renders it remarkable be- 

 yond any other bone in the horse. Thus fashioned, as a column of 

 support it is capable of sustaining greater weight, or at all events 

 greater shocks, from a property, which as a sort of bow it must 

 possess, of elasticity. What are called " calf-legs" do not arise 

 from any deficiency of this bow of the radius, but from peculiar 

 position of the knee-joints. 



Superiorly, the radius is connected with the humerus, the nature 

 of the joint formed between them being such as admits of flexion 

 forwards and again of extension, but neither of flexion backwards 

 nor of any lateral motion. A horse has the power of advancing 

 his arm, and raising it rather beyond the line of right angle with 

 his body ; but he cannot bend it in a backward direction : the limb 

 is extended backward through the motion of the humerus on the 

 scapula. Had the elbow-joint moved backward as well as for- 

 ward, the animal must have been so insecure upon his legs, that 



