THE EXTERNAL CONFORMATION OF THE HORSE. 
425 
the weight is not carried over the center and landed on the other 
side in a proper way, and the animal comes down upon its knees 
or stumbles along in a somewhat awkward manner, if it does not 
fall down altogether. 
It is generally conceded that horses with long arms are best 
adapted for fast work, and it is so often referred to as a point of 
excellence in the trotter that we were led to measure a large 
number of horses to determine if possible whether any reliable 
information could be obtained from the length of the arm and its 
relation to* speed, and our measurements go to show that the 
length of the arm (from the elbow to the trapezium) is greater 
in the roadster, proportionately speaking, than in the draft horse. 
Passing on down the leg we come* to the knee (Plate I, 31), 
this should be nearly straight as far as the outline of its anterior 
surface is concerned, but the posterior surface is marked by a 
prominent eminence which does not receive any special name 
except the prominence at the back of the knee. This prominence 
is far more perceptible in some horses than it is in others, so 
much so that it stands out boldly behind, and below this point 
the contour of the back of the leg dips suddenly forward, giv¬ 
ing the part a cutaway appearance, and good horses are some¬ 
times condemned for being to much cut away under the knee, 
when the part is really stronger and better formed than the 
average. It is true that many horses are cut away under the 
knee to that extent that the leg is weakened, and will not stand 
the constant “hammer, hammer, hammer on the hard, hard 
way,” but we must distinguish between the horse with an unusu¬ 
ally well developed (trapezium) bone which forms the promin¬ 
ence and the one which is illy formed by being too much cut 
away under the joint. In the former the condition is more 
apparent than real, for if we observe the substance of the leg 
from before backwards just beneath the knee we will find it 
broad and strong, presenting a striking contrast to the latter, 
which will be found shallow to that extent that it often becomes 
a weak link. 
The knee should not bend backwards or present a concave 
