KNEE. '95 



of which is about two inches in length. It may, however, take 

 the form of a small horn (Fig. 291), in which case, it will, as 

 a rule, readily break off from its base, if force be applied to it. 

 Goubaux and Barrier state, as an extremely rare occurrence, 

 that absence of castors from the fore legs has been observed 

 in horses. There are, in almost all cases, similar, though, 

 somewhat smaller, castors on the inside of the hind limbs, 

 just below the hock and near the back of the leg. Huzard, 

 and Goubaux and Barrier remark that they have seen in- 

 stances of the hind castors being absent in the horse. They 

 are larger and of a more horny texture in coarse-bred horses 

 than in blood animals. Nothing is known of the origin of 

 castors (p. 274). 



Knee. Looking at the knee in profile, while the horse 



bears weight on the leg, we should find that the cannon-bone 

 and radius are nearly in a straight line. In reality they are 

 not quite so in perfect specimens ; but are united by a slightly 

 undulating line of great beauty, the contour of which I 

 am unable to lay down with mathematical accuracy. Figs. 

 255, 256, 282, 294, 322, 324 and 332 furnish us with good 

 illustrations of well-set-on fore arms, knees, and cannon- 

 bones. Fig. 299 is an example of the condition known as 

 " calf-knees," to which there is a slight tendency in Figs. 

 297 and 306. The opposite formation ("being over at the 

 knees") is shown in Fig. 303. to which there is an 

 inclination in Fig. 304- This condition is generally due to 

 hard work ; but may, I am inclined to think, be natural ; for 

 I have seen it in young animals which had not been broken 

 in and which had consequently done no work, beyond 

 voluntary exercise in their paddock. I may hazard the 

 conjecture that purely congenital "standing over at the 

 knees"— as, probably, in Fig. 303. which represents the 

 fore legs of a four-year-old well-bred hunter type of 

 horse which had done very little work— will be unaccom- 

 panied by alteration in the slope of the pastern. As a 

 great rule, when a horse stands over at the knees from 



