THE FETLOCK. 71 



fore limb, either from the length or position of the humerus, is 

 running backward in that manner which gives the effect of what 

 is called " standing over." The leg in form in the living horse 

 should be flat and broad, not what is called " round :" the sinew 

 should stand out far behind the bone, and feel tense, and distinct, 

 and hard ; and the interspace between the sinew and bone should 

 give to the fingers the sensation of a hollow, a totally unoccupied 

 interval, and not one filled up with soft substance, called, in horse- 

 man's phraseology, "gum." The cannon bone itself cannot be too 

 large, providing there be breeding in the horse; and the only way 

 to "judge of legs" is to feel them : by grasping them we ascertain 

 their size ; and by feeling them with our fingers we discover most 

 surely what the proportion of sinew and bone is, compared with the 

 weight to be carried. It is a frequent complaint, that horses are 

 " small below the knee," meaning thereby that they are deficient in 

 bone. In making this assertion, however, we should be careful 

 not to be deceived by appearances ; for the fore limbs will, now and 

 then, have the appearance of wanting bone and sinew, when such 

 is really not the case : in fine, the sole sure mode of "judging of 

 legs" is to feel them — "run the hand down them," and span them; 

 by which test one man can estimate a leg better in the dark than 

 another, by simply looking at it, can in the light. It is very 

 common to hear a gentleman say, "that horse is light below the 

 knee ;" to which the dealer, who knows his legs to be good, 

 naively replies, " 1 think, sir, if you will feel them, you will not 

 find any deficiency there!" 



THE FETLOCK. 



From the cannon we descend to the pastern, the two parts 

 being connected by the joint known by the name of the fetlock or 

 feetlock ; so called from the lock or tuft of hair which grows 

 from it. 



The cannon, pastern, and coffin bones of the solidungulous ani- 

 mal bear evidence, in their formation, of that incorporation or con- 

 solidation of parts which we observe to take place in the scale of 

 analogous structures, at the top of which stands the most perfect 

 of digital formations, the human hand, at the bottom, immediately 



