66 SINEWY HORSE. [BOOK I. 



limb will be greater : it will possess less strength 

 at the joints when bent, and be liable to give way 

 or break unless supported by some other covering. 

 The form or style of going, is frequently affected 

 by the relaxation of this universal covering of the 

 bones, always with young horses, not yet arrived 

 to a sufficient age for being well braced; some 

 breeds are naturally loose built in this respect, and 

 many otherwise good horses become relaxed through 

 age, hard usage, a humid climate, over physicking, 

 or a cold in the limbs. Perhaps the knee-pan is 

 that bone which depends mostly upon being kept 

 in position by the immediate covering thereof, 

 having decidedly no muscular covering ; yet I have 

 seen a case of the knee-pan being displaced and 

 replaced several times, no one being aware of the 

 cause of the original displacement, further than this 

 general conclusion of ours. It is easy to perceive 

 that the horse which has those coverings in the 

 highest perfection would move his limbs more cor- 

 rectly after the fashion they were designed for, 

 than he which constantly strained them out of 

 their places. He who was endowed with the first- 

 mentioned quality in perfection would be consi- 

 dered a sinewy tight-built horse ; the second kind 

 we have already depicted in section 10, where the 

 houghs are described as keeping those integu- 

 ments m. a perpetual state of derangement, straining 

 or twisting them in such a manner, that consti- 

 tutional enlargement at the joint is the natural 

 consequence. 



