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Beyond shoulders to other running gear.
"Pasterns strong" can be confusing to some people.
Strong does not mean short or straight. Correct pasterns must
be slightly sloping to go with the sloping shoulder, as when
the elbow and withers are in the correct perpendicular line with
each other, the pastern bend brings weight-bearing heel pad of
the foot under the center of gravity for the shoulder assembly.
Upright pasterns go with upright shoulders and short upper arms,
and are prone to the very serious fault of "knuckling over"
with age. Pasterns flatten to the ground on the Borzoi while
running, and spring back to Hindquarters are to be "long, very muscular and powerful" with well-bent stifles. "Well-bent means rear angulation is desirable. Hocks are to be "clean and well let down." Clean means a well-delineated broad hock joint. A broad hock joint geometrically goes with a well-bent stifle. Well let down means a short metatarsus; a short hock. This is an endurance item. Sprint dogs can have long hocks in relationship to their upper and lower thigh, but the distance runner needs leg length in the femur and the tibia, the muscle bearing bones. See how the two right hand dogs in Figure 15 have high and narrow hocks that go with lack of rear angulation. Then notice how the well angulated dog has the nice broad hock joint.
Different combinations of the proportions of the leg bones completely change the look and structure of the rear. Rear angulation is not a totally static assembly and it tends to increase with age. 3/4 of the Standard is written defining structure that makes a Borzoi a good moving dog as well as a gracefully curving sighthound, so the well bent stifle and the look of the rear is a point of TYPE as well as a point of sound structure. The hindquarters are somewhat wider than the forequarters. This means through the pelvis and hips and only makes sense in a running dog, as in the double suspension gallop the hind legs PASS the shoulders during the contraction phase. That DOES NOT mean that the Borzoi should TROT wider in the rear, as the center of gravity is the same for both ends of any long-legged dog. Standing the legs are "parallel when viewed from the rear", as opposed to cowhocked or barrel hocked. Feet are hare shaped, meaning the feet are long and the two center toes are longer than the others, but they still must have well arched knuckles. Long toes provide additional spring to the stride, and grip the earth better while running. Short toes seem to be more injury prone in the field. Borzoi seldom have foot injuries lure coursing; the cat footed Greyhounds and Whippets aren't so lucky. On the other hand, flat, unknuckled chicken feet are a severe fault in any running hound. |
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I
provide
power to the stride as well as cushioning. Short, upright pasterns
lack that resiliency. Wolves, who are also great runners, have
very bent pasterns that flatten out in the same way when running.
