War and Peace vocabulary

Vronsky patted her strong neck, straightened over her sharp withers a stray lock of her mane that had fallen on the other side, and moved his face near her dilated nostrils, transparent as a bat's wing.

Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina (Translated by Constance Garnett)

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a number of incomprehensible points of equine conformation, dealing with hocks, withers, shoulders, and other items of anatomy. Since the only points I noticed on a horse were nose, tail, and ears, the subtleties were lost on me.

Diana Gabaldon. Outlander (1991)

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'[...]—Make them first sensible that you have nothing in view but their good, then they will listen with patience, and easily be convinced of the sin and folly of a practice that affords neither profit nor pleasure'—At this remark, our uncle changed colour, and looked round the company, conscious that his own withers were not altogether unwrung.

Tobias Smollett. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771)

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we that have free souls, it touches us not. Let the gall'd jade winch; our withers are unwrung.

William Shakespeare. Hamlet