THE ARM. 63 



legs than others : they do not possess the same power of recovering 

 a false step, and are consequently more likely to fall and break their 

 knees; neither do such legs " wear" well, but by hard work soon 

 evince instability and tremor at the knee-joints, with knuckling- 

 over of the fetlocks. On all accounts, therefore, a long arm with 

 a short cannon is to be preferred. 



The position of the fore limbs, in respect to the trunk, in 

 which I include their line of descent from the body to the ground, 

 will mainly depend upon the length of the humerus, and the direc- 

 tion given to the radius by its articulation with it. In animals in 

 which the humerus, forming part of the shoulder, is placed in an 

 oblique position, it is, as is observed by Sir Chas. Bell, " neces- 

 sarily short ; otherwise it would throw the leg too far back, and 

 make the head and neck project." " It is," continues Sir Charles, 

 " one of the ' points' of a horse to have the humerus short. And 

 not only have all animals of speed this character, but birds of long 

 flight, as the swallow, have short humeri." In horses in whom the 

 points of the shoulder appear to project inordinately forward, the 

 fore limbs will be found to be placed farther backward than usual, 

 owing to the too great length or obliquity of the humerus ; and 

 should the limbs at the same time, from the nature of their con- 

 nexion with the humerus, have an inclination in their line of de- 

 scent backward, such a horse, from his liability to fall and the 

 little chance he has of recovering any stumble or mis-step, is to be 

 regarded as dangerous in the extreme : in fact, he is fit but for 

 harness, and never ought to carry a saddle. The centre of gravity 

 being thrown so much more forward than it ought to be, with the 

 undue preponderance given to the head and neck, will cause the 

 weight of his body to be thrown, by the impetus of action, almost 

 all into his harness-collar, and thus prove of material assistance to 

 him in his draught. In a horse with well-formed and straight fore 

 limbs, a plumb-line let fall from the point of the shoulder will drop 

 touching the point of the toe ; but in a horse formed after the man- 

 ner described above, the line will fall in front of the toe of the 

 hoof. 



