238 THE HIND LIMB. 



short cannon-bone and a sloping pastern, would, naturally, 

 be somewhat closer to the ground, than it would be, were 

 the cannon-bone long and the pastern upright. Besides this, 

 the appearance of a comparatively long cannon may, I ven- 

 ture to think, give the impression of greater length below 

 the knee and hock, than would be the case, were the cannon 

 short in comparison to the pastern. As regards the opinion 

 that the length from hock to toe, as compared to that from 

 hock to stifle — irrespective of the slope of the pastern — being 

 less in some horses than in others, I must say that I think it 

 is founded on an optical delusion. If we examine PL 51, 

 we shall see a hock which certainly gives us the idea that it 

 is " well let down " ; but a look at PI. 49 will convey to our 

 minds the opposite kind of impression. And yet if we take a 

 pair of dividers and describe a circle, with the point of the 

 hock as a centre, and its distance from the toe as a radius, we 

 shall find that in the case of both PI. 51 and PI. 49, the cir- 

 cumference will cut the curved fold of skin near the o-foin at 

 the same point ! For convenience sake, I have taken these 

 measurements, which are sufficiently accurate for the purpose 

 in question ; although it would have been more correct to have 

 made them from the hock joint to the toe, and to the stifle 

 joint, respectively. From whence arises, then, this difference 

 of appearance between these two hind limbs, as regards the 

 height of the hock off the ground } To this I would reply 

 that the fact of the hock in PI. 51 being "straight" {see 

 p. 236), gives the impression to the observer that it is better 

 " let down," than the "bent" hock in PI. 49 ; for, as the eye 

 runs down the limb, it would not be so abruptly arrested by 

 the former, as by the latter kind of conformation. Also, 

 the broader the bone is immediately below the hock (contrast 



