[en] Cross sections, analyzing powers, and spin-flip probabilities have been measured in the low momentum transfer region in the ⁹⁰Zr(p vector, p' vector) ⁹⁰Zr* reaction at 319 MeV. A rich fine structure is observed for the first time in inelastic proton scattering in the previously proposed M1 giant resonance region. Angular distribution of most of these states are consistent with M1 excitation. The excitation energies of the fine structure states are in good agreement with similar structure seen in electron scattering; however, discrepancies in spin assignments remain. The measured cross section for the entire bump is about 37 +- 10% of the Distorted Wave Impulse Approximation (DWIA) prediction for the M1 strength in ⁹⁰Zr with simple wave functions. However, an analysis of the fine structure states reveals about 15% of the strength in the M1 region to be due to narrow El states; another 8% is attributed to M2 strength. The spin-flip measurements for ⁹⁰Zr reveal a large spin-flip probability value for the M1 region; good agreement is obtained with DWIA calculations. However, a large cross section for spin excitations distributed uniformly over the excitation energy region from about 7 to 25 MeV is observed for the first time. The spin excitation strength in this giant resonance continuum is found to about 0.80 mb/sr/MeV. Angular distributions for the spin-flip cross sections from 7 to 18 MeV in steps of 2 MeV have been analyzed with low multipole spin excitation calculations in the DWIA framework; the observed spin-flip strength in this region is found to be consistent with spin excitation involving angular momentum transfer of up to two. Finally, cross section, analyzing power, and spin-flip probability data have also been obtained for the 10.23 MeV M1 transition in the ⁴⁸Ca(p vector, p' vector)⁴⁸Ca* reaction at 319 MeV. The quenching of M1 strength in ⁴⁸Ca relative to theoretical predictions is found to be consistent with previous work