THE HAUNCH. aba 



CHAPTER XVII. 

 THE HIND LEGS. 



THE HAUNCH. 



The haunch (see O, p. 108, and the cut, p. 327) is composed of three bones. 

 The first is the ilium, principally concerned in the formation of the haunch. 

 Its extended branches behind the flanks are prominent in every horse. When 

 they are more than usually wide, the animal is said to be ragged-hipped. A 

 branch runs up to the spine at the commencement of the sacral vertebrae (E), and 

 here the haunch-bones are firmly united with the bones of the spine. The 

 ischium, or hip-bone, is behind and below the ilium. Its tuberosities or 

 prominences are seen under the tail (cut, p. 108). The pubis unites with the. 

 two former below and behind. 



From the loins to the setting on of the tail a line should be carried on almost 

 straight, or rounded only in a slight degree. Thus the haunch-bones will be 

 most oblique, and will produce a corresponding obliquity, or slanting direction, 

 in the thigh-bone— a direction in which, as stated when the fore legs were 

 described, the muscles act with most advantage. This direction of the haunch 

 is characteristic of the thorough-bred horse; and by the degree in which 

 it is found, we judge to a considerable extent of the breeding of the animal. 

 If the bones at D and E, p. 108, take a somewhat arched form, as they do in 

 the cart-horse, it is evident that the haunch-bone O would be more upright. 

 The thigh-bone P would likewise be so. The stifle Q would not be so far under 

 the body, and the power of the horse would be considerably impaired. The 

 oblique direction of the haunch and thigh bones, produced by the straightness 

 of the line of the spine, does not, as is commonly supposed, afford increased sur- 

 face for the attachment of muscles, but places the muscles in a direction to act 

 with great advantage. It is in the advantageous direction, quite as much as in 

 the bulk of the muscle, that the strength of the horse consists. 



It will be seen, from the different cuts, that the angles formed by the fore 

 and hind extremities have different directions. One points forward, and the 

 other backward. The action of the fore legs thus least interferes with the 

 chest, and that of the hind legs with the belly. 



Width of haunch is a point of great consequence, for it evidently affords 

 more room for the attachment of muscles ; and even though it should be so wide 

 as to subject the horse to the charge of being ragged-hipped, and may somewhat 

 offend the eye, it will not often be any detriment to action. If the loins are 

 broad and the horse well ribbed home, the protuberances of the ilium can 

 scarcely be too far apart. Many a ragged-hipped horse has possessed both fleet- 

 ness and strength, while but few that were narrow across the haunch could 

 boast of the latter quality. 



The opening in the centre of these bones, which constitutes the passage through 

 which the young animal is expelled from the mother, is large in the mare, 

 and in every quadruped, because there cannot, on account of the form ot 

 the animal, be any danger of abortion from the weight of the foetus pressing 

 on the part. 



The only portion of these bones exposed to injury or fracture are the tubero- 

 sities or prominences of the haunch. A fall or blow may chip off or disunite a 

 portion of them, and, if so, there are no means of forcibly bringing the disunited. 



