I think this is probably a job for the spherical fall-off zones. Try turning them on (if they aren't already) and adjusting the zones to exclude the pig's belly. The inner zone will need to encompass the leg in its entirety, or some bits of it will be left behind. The outer zone can be shrunk until you get the effect you want. I find it helpful to set the element view to wireframe when adjusting fall-off spheres (and magnet zones) - it makes it easier to see the shape of the zone in 3D.

I tried that and making the inner zone a lot smaller badly distorted the leg, making it slightly smaller had no effect. Making the inner zone larger than the outer one had the same effect as in post 1.

Sure. The inner zone should be as small as it can be without distorting the leg when it's bent. The outer zone will determine where the bend effect stops entirely, so nothing outside it will be affected. It will probably need to be slightly larger than the inner zone, but maybe not much. You may also need to experiment with the shape of the zones to get optimum results (separate x, y and z scaling).

Thank you I got it fixed.