Calf-kneed.
Fig. 52.
Acute-angled foot
(low-jointed).
The position of a fore-limb viewed in profile is regular or normal ([Fig. 48]) when a perpendicular line dropped from the tuberosity of the acromian spine (point of union of the upper and middle thirds of the scapula or shoulder-blade) divides the leg from the elbow to the fetlock into anterior and posterior halves of equal width, and touches the ground immediately back of the bulbs of the heel. A perpendicular line dropped from the point of union of the middle and lower thirds of the scapula (shoulder-blade) will cut the humerus into halves, and meet the ground between the toe and the heel.[2] The foot-axis (line of direction of the three phalanges) and the wall at the toe form an angle of from forty-five to fifty degrees with the horizontal ground-surface.
From this normal or regular standing position, there are deviations forward as well as backward.
Forward Deviations.—“Standing in front” or “camped in front” ([Fig. 50]) is that position in which the entire leg from the body to the ground is placed too far forward. Sheep-kneed ([Fig. 51]) is that position in which the forward deviation is from the knee downward, the knee being placed too far under the body. “Weak-jointed,” “low-jointed,” or “acute-angled” ([Fig. 52]) is that position in which the limbs are perpendicular and straight down as far as the fetlock-joint, but the feet are placed too far in front.
Fig. 53.
