BONES. 



25 



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

 those of the tail, have a canal in which the spmal 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 vertebrae m 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 witheis extend. The spine of the fifth dorsal 

 vertebra forms the summit of the withers. 



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

 vertebrae. Both kinds have pieces of cartilage attached to their lower ends. 



Jbint C^JiXMK 



^ V<,r U hi at of nc^ck 



Hip mnt 



TrocfiMrUer mtycir 



PoinC of 

 hutloch 



jLoTW-pasterrt bone^^^ 



SJurr -pastern' bona 

 PcdaZ bone -. 



Fig. 12.— Skeleton of Horse. 



The true ribs are connected by their lespective cartilages with the breast 

 bone; but the false ones are only indirectly connected to it, the cartilage 

 of the first false rib resting on that of the last true one, that of the second 

 false rib on the first false one, and so on. 



Tht fore lunb consists of the shoulder blade, humerus, bones of the fore 

 arm, bones of the knee, cannon-bone, splint bones, long pastern bone, 

 short pastern bone, pedal (or coffin) bone, two small bones at the back of 

 the fetlock, and the navicular bone, which lies at the back of the joint formed 

 by the small pastern bone and the pedal bone. 



The shoulder blade (or scaj)ula) is a broad, thin bone, which is fiat ,on its 

 inside surface and has a narrow ndge of bone (the spine of the scapula) on 

 its outer surface. This spme serves as a partition to divide the muscles 

 which extend the shoulder joint from those that flex it 



