File:The horse and its relatives (1912) (14768613864).jpg

Identifier: horseitsrelative00lydeuoft (find matches)
Title: The horse and its relatives
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915
Subjects: Donkeys Equidae Horses Zebras
Publisher: New York : MacMillan
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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in the outer than inthe inner splint-bone, alike in the fore and the hindlimb. At the close of the descriptive portion ofthe communication the author arrives at the con-clusion that Argentine horses are endeavouring todiscard these seemingly useless portions of theskeleton. It may be added that in veterinary anatomythe first and second phalanges, or toe-bones, ofthe horses foot are respectively termed the upperand lower pastern-bones, while the enlargedterminal bone which carries the hoof is known asthe coffin-bone. The last-named bone, it may benoted, is much wider in the fore-foot than in thehind-foot; having almost the shape of a cheese-cutter in the fore-leg. Another term employed inveterinary works is fetlock, which denotes thejoint between the lower end of the cannon-boneand the upper pastern. The middle segment of the skeleton of thehorses fore-leg, that is to say the one immediatelyabove the carpus, or so-called knee, is formedmainly by the radius, or inner leg-bone; the ulna
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i POSITION AND STRUCTURE OF HORSE 17 or outer leg-bone—which is as long as, andseparate from the radius in less specialised animals,such as rhinoceroses—being represented only by itsupper end, corresponding to the human elbow, orolecranon, and this being immovably soldered to theradius. In consequence of this welding of twooriginally separate bones into a single compoundelement, the fore-leg of a horse is capable of noother movement than a backwards and forwardsone; this being all that is needed by a runninganimal. A similar consolidation and simplificationof elements likewise obtains in the middle segmentof the hind-leg of the horse, in which the originallydistinct smaller bone known as the fibula is re-duced to its upper extremity, this being firmlywelded to the upper end of the larger bone, ortibia. The reduction in the number of toes to a singlelarge one in each foot, and of the metacarpal andmetatarsal bones to the aforesaid splints, coupledwith the elono^ation of the bones o

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