PASTERN AND HOOF. 213 



I have taken these measurements, which are sufficiently 

 accurate for the purpose in question ; although it would have 

 been more correct to have made them from the hock joint 

 to the toe, and to the stifle joint, respectively. From whence 

 arises, then, this difference of appearance between these two 

 hind limbs, as regards the height of the hock off the ground ? 

 To this I would reply that the fact of the hock in Fig. 313 

 being ** straight" (p. 210), gives the impression to the ob- 

 server that it is better ** let down " than the **bent" hock in 

 Fig. 316; for, as the eye runs down the limb, it would not be 

 so abruptly arrested by the former as by the latter kind of 

 conformation. Also, the broader the bone is immediately 

 below the hock (contrast Fig. 315 with Fig. 317), as com- 

 pared to the width of the hind fetlock ; the easier will the 

 eye of the observer run down the hind leg. 



Cannon and Fetlock. — Considering these parts, I have 

 nothing to add to what I have already written in this chapter 

 and in the preceding one, beyond saying that if the leg is 

 of good width immediately below the hock, its shape will be 

 all right down to the fetlock. 



Pastern and Hoof, — As the hind limb is concerned more 

 in propulsion than in resisting the evil effects of concussion ; 

 its pastern should be more upright, than what would be 

 required in that of the fore leg. The hoof should more 

 nearly approach the perpendicular, than the fore one ; its 

 slope, when viewed in profile, being, in unshod horses, about 

 60"^. It is, as compared to its length, narrower ; the ground 

 surfaces of its quarters are straighter, and their respective 

 curvatures differ less from each other, than those of the fore 

 extremity. The horn at the toe is not so thick ; the sole is 

 more concave ; the frog is narrower and less developed ; and 

 the heels are higher and closer together. 



