STRUCTURAL EXAMINATION 25 



the elbow and the knee. If this region is long, the muscle 

 must necessarily be long and that produces quick and easy 

 action. The muscle of the fore arm flexes and extends the 

 rest of the leg, and in order that these motions may take 

 place with the least expenditure of power the course over 

 which it must travel must be as short as possible; that is, 

 the cannon running from the knee to the fetlock should be 

 much shorter than from the knee to the elbow. 



Mr. H. T. Helm has made a careful study of the effect 

 that the proportions of these parts to each other have upon 

 the horse's action. He has measured a great many horses 

 and finds that their action in the fore legs seems to be 

 governed by the proportionate length of the fore arm and 

 the cannon. He found that Administrator has superior 

 action in front, and that his cannon was 11% inches long, 

 and the fore arm 21 inches long. About the same propor- 

 tions were found to exist in the fore legs of George Wilkes, 

 and there was no lack of knee action in.his movement. The 

 actual proportions were 10% "to 20 inches. In Governor 

 Sprague the cannon was 11 inches and the fore arm 21 

 inches, and here the front action was not quite as rounding 

 as that of George Wilkes. In the instance of St. Lawrence, 

 the proportions were ll 1 /^ to 21 inches and the action was 

 noted to be far reaching and gently curving. It will be 

 easily understood that the strain upon the knees would be 

 greater in those horses that were long in the cannons in 

 comparison with the length of the fore arm, and it will 

 usually be found that such a conformation predisposes a 

 horse to weak knees. On the other hand when the fore arm 

 is inordinately long the tendency is for the front legs to 

 bend back at the knees and give rise to what is commonly 

 termed calf knees. 



35. Arms Short, Thrown Forward. The humerus 

 which forms the arm should be short and appear compara- 



