Read the excerpt from The Call of the Wild.

A poor substitute for food was this hide, just as it had been stripped from the starved horses of the cattlemen six months back. In its frozen state it was more like strips of galvanized iron, and when a dog wrestled it into his stomach it thawed into thin and innutritious leathery strings and into a mass of short hair, irritating and indigestible.

Which phrase from the excerpt uses imagery to help readers visualize how the meat looks and feels to the dogs?

a poor substitute for food was this hide
had been stripped from the starved horses
when a dog wrestled it into his stomach
thawed into thin and innutritious leathery strings

thawed into thin and innutritious leathery strings