550 
LECTURES ON HOUSES. 
of the shaft to be raised and projected, and calls for additional power 
in the propelling agent. And again, length of arm will give the 
horse advantage in action : every step he takes in a walk or trot, 
will, from the greater reach of the arm forwards, prove so much 
gained to him ; and these gains, though insignificant of themselves, 
may in the course of a mile turn out something considerable. 
Should the arm be short, though it be muscular and strong, yet 
will its power tell to comparatively little effect when the cannons 
are long, and from that circumstance alone proportionably weak : 
horses so made are absolutely weaker — less stable — upon their fore 
legs than others : they do not possess the same power of recovering 
a false step, and are consequently more likely to fall and break their 
knees; neither do such legs “ wear” well, but by hard work soon 
evince instability and tremor at the knee-joints, with knuckling- 
over of the fetlocks. On all accounts, therefore, a long arm with 
a short cannon is to be preferred. 
The position of the fore limbs, in respect to the trunk, in 
which I include their line of descent from the body to the ground, 
will mainly depend upon the length of the humerus, and the direc- 
tion given to the radius by its articulation with it. In animals in 
which the humerus, forming part of the shoulder, is placed in an 
oblique position, it is, as is observed by Sir Chas. Bell, “ neces- 
sarily short ; otherwise it would throw the leg too far back, and 
make the head and neck project.” “ It is,” continues Sir Charles, 
“ one of the ‘ points’ of a horse to have the humerus short. And 
not only have all animals of speed this character, but birds of long 
flight, as the swallow, have short humeri.” In horses in whom the 
points of the shoulder appear to project inordinately forward, the 
fore limbs will be found to be placed farther backward than usual, 
owing to the too great length or obliquity of the humerus ; and 
should the limbs at the same time, from the nature of their con- 
nexion with the humerus, have an inclination in their line of de- 
scent backward, such a horse, from his liability to fall and the 
little chance he has of recovering any stumble or mis-step, is to be 
regarded as dangerous in the extreme : in fact, he is fit but for 
harness, and never ought to carry a saddle. The centre of gravity 
being thrown so much more forward than it ought to be, with the 
undue preponderance given to the head and neck, will cause the 
weight of his body to be thrown, by the impetus of action, almost 
all into his harness-collar, and thus prove of material assistance to 
him in his draught. In a horse with well-formed and straight fore 
limbs, a plumb-line let fall from the point of the shoulder will drop 
touching the point of the toe ; but in a horse formed after the man- 
ner described above, the line will fall more in front of the toe of 
the hoof. 
