138 COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES, 



differently shaped horses, and bend the limbs at the knees 

 as far as they will *' go/' we shall find that in almost all 

 cases, the heel will touch the elbow (Fig. 239) at about the 

 same place. As the proportion between the length of the 

 fore arm and cannon-bone evidently varies in different horses, 

 a comparatively long or short fore arm must be accompanied 

 by a similar condition of the bones below the fetlock. Lecoq 

 remarks : '' The length of the fore arm varies inversely as 

 that of the cannon-bone." I think I may venture to extend 

 this principle somewhat further, in stating the following 

 inverse proportions :— Shoulder-blade, long ; humerus (from 

 point of shoulder to elbow joint), short ; fore arm, long ; 

 cannon-bone, short ; pastern, long. In other words, a long 

 shoulder-blade is accompanied by a long fore arm and long 

 pastern, and by a short humerus and a short cannon-bone. 

 The converse of this holds equally good. Taking the 

 shoulder-blade as the base to start from, we may infer that 

 the difference between these alternate proportions should be 

 best marked in animals, like the hunter or steeplechaser, 

 which specially require to have this bone of considerable 

 length (p. 184). It may be objected that the greyhound 

 (Fig. 8), which is possessed of extraordinary speed and 

 marvellous jumping power, has, comparatively speaking, a 

 short shoulder-blade and long humerus. Although the length 

 of the latter, which is detached from the body, gives him 

 great forward ** reach ; " the shortness of the former makes 

 him too bad a weight-carrier (p. 180) for him to be accepted 

 as a model for our purpose. I think we may assume that a 

 similar series of inverse proportions should exist in the hind 

 limb. Thus : pelvis, long ; thigh, short ; tibia (from stifle to 

 hock), long ; cannon-bone, short ; pastern, long. As the 

 muscles which give length to the tibia are far more concerned 

 in the extension of the hind limb of the jumper and galloper 

 than in the cart-horse; we should look for greater length 

 from stifle to hock, in the first two, than in the last-named. I 

 would also expect in them a shorter thigh and a shorter 

 cannon-bone. I may mention that I am confirmed in this 



