THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XV, No. 174.] JUNE 1842. [New Series, No. 6. 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
By William PERCIVALL, M.R.C.S . , Veterinary Surgeon 
First Life Guards. 
LECTURE IV. 
THE LEGS. 
“ The legs of a horse should have a due proportion in their length and 
strength to the weight and size of the carcass .” — Farrier s Dictionary. 
A SORT of general division may be made of the component 
pieces of the animal machine into parts supported and parts sup- 
porting, or, as having reference to loco-motion, into parts moved 
and parts moving. The body or trunk, including the appendage 
of the head and neck, which we have already considered, con- 
stitutes one division, while the four limbs, which we are now 
about to discourse on, make up the other. 
As far as steady and stable support be the object, it will readily 
be admitted that four legs are better than three, and that two by 
no means could be made to answer the purpose of four, or even 
three : a three-legged form stands not so firmly as one with four 
legs ; and though one with two legs may be contrived so as to 
stand alone, yet the slightest force disturbs its centre of gravity, 
and it falls ; so little power of balancing itself is it found to 
possess. The three-legged table or stool, from its being circular 
or triangular, will stand as firmly as though it had four supporters; 
but the square table or oblong form requires four legs, one at each 
corner or salient angle, or two at either side, to give it the full and 
firm support of which by the carpenter’s art it proves to be sus- 
ceptible. Six or eight legs would nothing augment the stability 
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