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sustain travel at speed. Animals such as horses that have become specialist
runners have legs designed to deliver power. The bones in the upper leg are
short and strong, providing a support structure for the powerful muscles. The
bones in both the lower front and hind legs are fused together and have no
need for the rotation of the forelimbs.
The close location of the leg muscles to the horse's body means that only
relatively short contraction of the muscles provides maximum movement
and power for locomotion. This makes for very economical use of energy in
providing movement to the slender lower legs. There are no muscles in the
lower front legs below the carpal joints or the lower hind legs below the tarsal
joints.
FIG 4.14
Horse musculature.
The neck is relatively long, and as with all quadrupeds the length has to do
with its access to food.
Cats
From the domestic cat to the tiger, the variants in felines are less extreme
than with dogs. They have developed in size, coloration, and density of coat
according to their environment, but largely they have not been subject to
man's intervention in terms of purposely cross-breeding changes into their
physiognomy. Perhaps this is because humans saw less potential in using cats
