30 



SKETCH OF THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 



connected to cartilages, ligaments, to the fibrous covering of muscles, or even 

 to the skin. 



Bones. — The skeleton is composed of the limbs and spinal column, 

 which consists of the head, vertebrae, ribs, and breast-bone {see Fig. 3). A 

 vertebra is one of the short bones which, when united, form the column 

 of bones that extends from the head to the end of the tail. There are seven 

 vertebrae of the neck, eighteen of the back, six of the loins, five of the croup 

 (or sacrum) and from thirteen to twenty of the tail. All the vertebrae, except 



Jvintj cfjaw- 



Lifjairtenl i^P nrrA- 

 ■'' _, VcrU-brn c of' nceU 



' yertcbrcuc or bitcii. 



^'cxlrrior itidty spine 

 Hip joint 



Trocl>(in/erni<yor 



-Point of 

 huttocJt 



Xnng-ptLStern. bone^ 



Slivrt.-pasterrv bone 

 fvcloZ bone 



Fig. 3. — Skeleton of Horse. 



those of the tail, have a canal in which the spinal cord lies. They are united 

 one to another with more or less power of movement, except those of the 

 croup, which, in the grown-up horse, form one solid bony mass. The head 

 may be said to be composed of vertebree in a peculiarly altered shape. 



The withers are the long spines of the seven or eight dorsal vertebrae 

 which come after the first. Generally speaking, the better bred a horse is, 

 the further to the rear do the withers extend. The spine of the fifth 

 dorsal vertebra forms the summit of the withers. 



There are eighteen ribs — eight true and ten false — attached to the dorsal 



