^'FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 91 



of the horse on which limited or maximum production of 

 work depends. Manifestly, for a horse to do his greatest 

 and most satisfactory service requires a perfect organization, 

 which is known or determined only by a detailed study of 

 type and conformation and their correlation in service. 



Structure Analogous with that of Man. 1 The structure 

 of the horse, so far as bones, joints and muscles are concerned 

 is, with a fe,w minor exceptions, very closely analogous to 

 the structure of man, provided that man assumes the hori- 

 zontal and quadrupedal position, and rests on the tips of his 

 fingers and toes. The horse has no collar bone, the union 

 between trunk and anterior extremities being wholly muscu- 

 lar, and the relative length of forelegs and hindlegs is such as 

 to maintain the body in a perfectly horizontal, rather than an 

 inclined, attitude. He has one digit instead of five and rests 

 only on the last segment of it, so that the wrist corresponds 

 to the horse's knee, the knuckle to his fetlock joint and the 

 three phalanges of the finger to his first and second pastern 

 and pedal bones. Likewise, the knee of the man is the 

 stifle of the horse, the calf of his leg the gaskin of the horse, 

 his heel the horse's hock, and so on as in the foreleg. As 

 the man raises his weight well up on his toes and feels the 

 tension of the muscles of the thigh and lower leg he can well 

 understand what takes place when the horse "lifts" in the 

 starting or moving of a load or in merely projecting his own 

 body forward in locomotion. 



Mechanical Structure. 2 The structure of the horse, mechan- 

 ically considered, consists of a trunk suspended by an arch, 

 the vertebral column, supported at each end by four vertical 

 columns, the legs, the anatomical features of which have 

 already been described. Greater weight is borne on the 

 forelegs because the appended head and neck bring the centre 

 of gravity well forward of the centre of the body. The 

 arrangement by which the body is slung between the two 

 forelegs by the great pectoral muscles and the slope of 

 shoulder and pastern provide for the supporting of this 

 weight, especially during locomotion, with least concussion. 



1 Gay, Principles and Practice of Judging Live Stock. 



2 Ibid. 



