LECTURES ON HORSES. 
365 
whereas the bones derive their spring from the elasticity of the 
material — muscle — by which they are connected together and 
united to the body. 
We have been considering the depth of the shoulder and the 
position of the bones composing it, and in the course of our in- 
quiries have noticed its substance or muscularity : we will now 
explain what we mean by 
Thickness and Thinness of Shoulder, and investigate the 
relative advantages and disadvantages of these counter-formations. 
A notion very prevalent among horse-people is, that the shoulder 
cannot be too thin or “ fine,” as they call it ; and that a thick or 
“ loaded” shoulder is only fit for harness. In these remarks truth 
is mingled with error, and it shall be our business to endeavour 
to distinguish and separate them. To set about our investigation 
systematically, let us first inquire what constitutes this thickness 
or thinness ; — to what kinds of conformation the terms are ap- 
plicable, or what they are commonly used to denote. A person 
grasps the withers of a horse with his hand, and at once pro- 
nounces his shoulders “ thick” or “ thin :” thin or fine, should 
the withers stand high and can be included between his fingers 
and thumb ; thick, should the withers appear buried between the 
shoulders, or so broad across that the span of the hand can with 
difficulty grasp them : in the former case, we grasp nothing but the 
spinous processes of the dorsal vertebrae ; in the latter, we appear 
to include the scapulae as well ; hence the thinness in one instance, 
the thickness in the other. There exists in such horses either in- 
ordinate length or shortness of spinous processes, inordinate length 
or shortness of scapula, or an unusual height or lowness of them in 
situ, owing to their position. “The razor-back,” as it is called, is 
the most remarkable instance of inordinately long spinous processes, 
and this is commonly combined with obliquity, and consequent 
lowness of the base of the scapula : altogether presenting an ex- 
ample of “ a fine shoulder ;” though of one that often proves on 
examination to be strangely deficient in substance. These razor- 
backs and fine shoulders are frequently seen in very old horses : 
indeed, it is a common observation, that “ shoulders grow fine 
with age ;” the interpretation of which appears to be, that the 
shoulders participate in that general process of absorption which is 
known to pervade the animal frame during the decline of life. 
In young horses, at the growing time of life, the shoulders are 
thick by nature, and do not, until the adult period is completed, 
attain that degree of thinness or fineness which they in after-life 
are found to possess ; coupled with which fact, and in corrobora- 
tion of it, stands the observation so current among breeders and 
dealers, that their colts are certain to “ rise” and “ fine” in their 
