X] THE ORGANS OF LOCOMOTION 121 



strain, both their flexor and their extensor tendons are provided 

 with hgamentous branches to the radius, carpus, and metacarpals. 

 These are the check hgaments. In the hind limb we meet with 

 the same sort of arrangement. As already remarked, a horse 

 while standing does not normally keep its hind legs together, but 

 flexes each one of them alternately so as to relieve the strain. 

 On the other hand a horse almost invariably keeps its fore feet 

 together while standing. 



Lying Down. A horse in coming to lie down brings all its 

 legs under its body; it bends its knees and hocks, the former 

 together with its chest coming into contact with the ground 

 before the hindquarters. When actually lying down a horse 

 either rests on one side of its chest with two legs (a fore and 

 a hind) underneath and the other two outside his body, or else 

 it lies on its side stretched out. A cow can rest vertically on 

 the ventral ridge of the sternum, but this attitude is impossible 

 in a horse owing to the sharpness of the edge of that bone. 



Rising. A horse in getting up off the ground stretches out 

 both its fore feet in front, pressing upwards its hindquarters by 

 fixing its hoofs firmly on the ground. The fore part of the body 

 is the first to rise, not as in the cow or sheep where the hind- 

 quarters rise first. 



Rearing. In rearing a horse brings its hind legs some distance 

 under its body, and at the same time throws up its head, and all 

 the legs are then used to raise the body upwards. A great 

 strain is thrown ujDon the hocks, and the ligaments of this joint 

 may become injured and curbs^ induced. 



Kicking. When a horse kicks the head is lowered and the 

 croup is raised, and the hind legs are thrust suddenly and forcibly 

 backwards. In 'cow-kickmg,' which is fortunately unusual in 

 horses, one hind leg is brought rapidly forward, after the manner 

 of kicking in cattle. 



Walking. There are four stages : 



(1) The body is balanced on 3 legs. 



(2) „ „ „ 2 diagonal legs. 



(3) „ „ „ 3 legs. 



(4) ,, ,, ,, 2 lateral legs (1 fore and 1 hind). 



' Curb is the name given to the swelling on the straight ligament of the 

 hock. It may result from any kind of strain on the hock, and is very common in 

 eab-horses or any horses which are much used for driving on haid paved streets. 



