Page 542 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

Claims of Vestigiality in a Horse's Legs and the Facts

Evolutionists aver that the number of horse's toes decreased over time, basing this claim on splint bones
found in modern-day horses' forelegs. In the so-called process of evolution, they say, horses' three toes re-
ceded to form the splint bones. However, splint bones are not the useless vestiges that evolutionists claim

them to be. They strengthen the leg for running and are known to play a role in reducing the stress caused
by galloping. They provide attachment points for various muscles. Also, they form a protective groove
housing the suspensory ligament, a vital elastic brace that supports the animal's weight as it moves. 138

A horse's leg is evidence of Creation. Pierre-Paul Grassé explains the characteristics of a horse's hoof in
technical language, then goes on to show that this continuity could not have been brought about by any
random process. The excellence of the structure in the leg joints, its pressure-absorbing cushions, its lubri-
cating liquid to facilitate movement, its ligaments and structure are all amazing:

Such a hoof, which is fitted to the limb like a die protecting the third phalanx, can without rubber or springs

buffer impacts which sometimes exceed one ton. It could not have formed by mere chance: a close examination
of the structure of the hoof reveals that it is a storehouse of coaptations and of organic novelties. The horny wall,
by its vertical keratophyl laminae, is fused with the podophyl laminae of the keratogenous layer. The respective
lengths of the bones, their mode of articulation, the curves and shapes of the articular surfaces, the structure of

bones (orientation, arrangement of the bony layers), the presence of ligaments, tendons sliding with sheaths,
buffer cushions, navicular bone, synovial membranes with their serous lubricating liquid, all imply a continuity
in the construction which random events, necessarily chaotic and incomplete, could not have produced and
maintained. This description does not go into the detail of the ultrastructure where the adaptations are even

more remarkable; they provide solutions to the problems of mechanics involved in rapid locomotion on mon-
odactyl limbs. 139

Grassé's statements clearly show the perfect structure of a horse's leg. Even more is known today about
it, as a recent study reveals.
In a 2002 study, researchers from the University of Florida discovered that one particular bone in a

horse's leg (the third metacarpus bone) had unique properties. As revealed by this study, there was a hole,
the size of a pea through which blood vessels could enter, on one side of the bone. Naturally holes cause
weaknessess. In laboratory stress tests, however, contrary to ordinary expectations, the bone didn't break
near the hole. Further analysis showed that the bone was arranged in such a way as to push stress into a
stronger region, preventing the horse's leg from break-

ing at that point. This structure attracted so many ad-
mirers that NASA financed Andrew Rapoff, an A mountain pony raised on the
western Scottish islands
assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical

engineering, to imitate it in the aircrafts near the
holes for wiring. 140
The structure of a horse's leg surpasses the
inventiveness of engineers trained in the most
advanced technology; and is now mimicked

by the aircraft industry. As Grassé pointed
out, such special structures cannot be ex-
plained in terms of random occurrences.

Plainly, the horse's leg has superior character-
istics that cannot come into being by coincidence;

A Shetland pony, the small-
est British horse breed

540 Atlas of Creation Vol. 3