The exterior of the horse . e width of the are others, on the contrary, whosemembers are deviated to the outer side ofthe vertical line and in which the distancebetween the two hoofs is too great. It isthis disposition which is represented in thefigure. In the first case, the injurious effectsare of little importance and only depreciate horses used for speed, by augmenting to excess the base of posteriorsupport and producing a rocking motion behind, detrimental to thespeed of the gait, but without any unfavorable influence upon theother services. The wide opening behind is due, o
The exterior of the horse . e width of the are others, on the contrary, whosemembers are deviated to the outer side ofthe vertical line and in which the distancebetween the two hoofs is too great. It isthis disposition which is represented in thefigure. In the first case, the injurious effectsare of little importance and only depreciate horses used for speed, by augmenting to excess the base of posteriorsupport and producing a rocking motion behind, detrimental to thespeed of the gait, but without any unfavorable influence upon theother services. The wide opening behind is due, ordinarily, to thewidth of the thorax and the croup, as well as to the development ofthe muscles. There is nothing very unfortunate in this, as Merche has remarked, in heavy draught-horses and colts of the common should, under the circumstances, even be considered as a point ofbeauty, if it can be demonstrated that it is compatible with the exist-ence of a regular axis. And as the latter does not exclude it, this is. > Merche, Nouveau Traité des formes extérieures du cheval, p. 508, Paris, 1868. 462 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. our only reason for giving the preference to such a conformation as theone in question. In the second case, the excessive separation of the members is verydecidedly objectionable in the animal : first, because the members nolonger support the weight in the direction capable of completely destroy-ing its effects ; secondly, because the inferior divergence depends too oftenupon a narrowness of the pelvis at the level of the cotyloid cavitiesand upon the mode of defective articulation of the posterior osseoussegments. Besides the rocking, the lack of power, the diminishedvelocity of the gait, and the unpleasant aspect inlocomotion, the animal is also predisposed to be-come affected prematurely with diseases of thehock, of the fetlock, and of the foot, whose in-ternal parts are more overburdened than whenin a normal state. It is for these reasons
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1892
