The horse which exhibits bog spavin and thorough-pin also generally shows wind-galls on the hind legs. Let the reader consider the hard usage the limb must have undergone before it could have become thus deranged. Here is a specimen, demonstrating the connection which exists between thorough-pin and bog spavin. It was made in consequence of Mr. Varnell having informed the author that thorough-pin was a bulging out of the synovial sheath, proper to the flexor tendon; and was not, as is generally taught and credited, an enlarged bursa. The author found them to be in accordance with the description he had received: the enlargement called thorough-pin, and the synovial membrane of the hock, had united, and free communication existed between them, in the joint which the writer examined.

Nature formed the synovial cavity of the joint as a distinct and separate part. It is usual for teachers to promulgate a maxim that Nature is all-wise. Man, however, it appears, can violently disarrange her provisions; yet, by his fellow-men, he is accounted to have done no wrong who destroys the harmony of Nature. Thorough-pin is not, in popular estimation, essentially unsoundness. A horse thus disfigured is believed, nay, professionally pronounced to be, perfect, although two distinct parts are battered into one. If two are beneficial, why was one only created? The horse may not be lame; but, granting Nature to be all-wise, must not the uses for which the limb was designed be injured? The question is not, whether an animal trots sound; but it is, whether it really is sound. What sane man would assert such to be the case, where the anatomical structures have been disorganized?

CAPPED KNEE.

Capped knee, in the fore limb, answers to bog spavin in the hind leg; the diseases are alike in most respects. Both affect the principal articulation of a complicated joint; both may be provoked by the like causes; but the fore leg, being less exposed to shocks than the hinder member, must have been much abused before it could become thus deformed.

Blows, also, are common originators of capped knee. This disorder is likewise peculiar for a course it takes. The fluid within the swollen joint is, upon excitement, secreted in such quantity as to tighten the enlargement. Ultimately it lames the horse, and at length bulges out, or points, after the manner of an abscess. If let alone, it would burst. Much of the surrounding parts would have to be absorbed or would be effectually destroyed before such a termination could ensue. The life would be endangered, or a lasting blemish would be left behind. To prevent this, the surgeon draws the skin to one side, and, holding the point of his lancet upward, opens the capped knee upon its lower surface. A quantity of synovia, more or less in a turbid state, escapes, and an open joint remains. For the treatment of this contingency, the reader must turn to "Open Joint." (Injuries.)

Capped knee is, by certain persons, viewed as a trivial accident. Generally, however, it is regarded in a more serious light, because it is more conspicuous than bog spavin. We also should object to it, because, while liable to the same changes as wind-galls, etc., it is also likely to expose the horse to an open joint. It is, like wind-galls and bog spavin, to be reduced by pressure, though sometimes pressure will call up aggravated symptoms. Rest is the best treatment; during the rest pressure may be safely applied. Pressure does not answer, however, while the limb is exposed to the irritation of work. The horse must be thrown up during treatment, and gently used after the animal has been patched up or "cured."

CAPPED HOCK.

When an injury is formed near an important part, Nature is so conservative of her creature's welfare that she always has some means ready to preserve the utility of the structure. Thus when, from external violence, the hock becomes capped, or a swelling like to that represented in the following engraving ensues, to prevent the joint being thrown out of use Nature allows the skin to enlarge. The cap of a hock, originally, was a bursa. A bursa is a little bladder or round sac, formed of the finest possible membrane, and filled with a fluid similar to joint oil. Its use is to facilitate motion; hence it eases the tightened skin over the points of the bony hock. But when it becomes deranged and swollen, the skin, which was dense, hard, and solid, stretches so as to cover the increase of bulk.

The tumor, however, having been produced, may in time subside, should the injury which provoked it not be repeated. Too often, however, the cause springs from motives over which the animal has no control; and the violence being renewed again and again, the swelling enlarges, and that which was soft and pulpy at first becomes hard to the feel, while all sensation of fluid disappears. The provocative being repeated, the part first grows firm, then solid, while its bulk also enlarges to a fearful magnitude. There appears to be no limit to the size; but the largest the author has encountered was nineteen inches in its greatest circumference, and seriously interfered with progression. Above, on the right hand, is a portrait of the tumor.

These unsightly growths have two causes—the ignorance of the groom and the timidity of the animal. To speak of the last first: Dogs will dream; often, as they lie before the fire, they work their legs and utter suppressed noises, being at the time soundly asleep. Dogs also have imagination. Almost everybody must have remarked the dog slink away from some object which is to be indistinctly seen in the dusk of evening. Nobody, however, seems to have credited the horse with either of these faculties. Because it is of service to man, it is appropriated, and the attributes belonging to the creature are overlooked; the groom locks the stable door, and, having bedded the horses down, leaves them in the dark, "comfortable" for the night. One dreams—awakens in terror, similar to that which causes children to start out of their sleep with terrible crying. The hind legs are the means of defense with the horse; it has no other, for it seldom, and not habitually, employs its teeth. The animal, in alarm, begins kicking, for terror becomes powerful as the reason diminishes. Animals have passions; these man can, in himself, subdue with reason; but the poor horse has no reason to restrain its emotions. Fear, once awakened, unopposed, possesses it; it begins to kick before it knows why. Bodies of men are exposed to panics. Can we wonder, therefore, at a timid and unreasoning animal being subject to the same influences? The kicking commenced, terror spreads; and a whole stable full of horses, each chained to its stall, each alone, forbidden the consolation of society, and prevented from scampering from the unknown horror, takes up the action; thus thirty or forty horses may be heard, in the depth and darkness of a night, kicking at the same time. The hind legs, when forcibly projected, are apt to hit the point of the hock; the bursa there developed is injured by the blow, and a capped limb is the consequence.

Another cause is kicking while in harness. This habit is always attributed to vice: to speak of vice as associated with the ideas of a simple animal is purely ridiculous. Fear is a much more probable cause, if man would only expand his understanding to comprehend the motives likely to actuate an unreasoning creature; vice is far too heroic an impulse, far too human a failing, for the horse to embody. Fear is essentially an animal passion; that some mighty influence agitates the quadruped, when it begins to kick in harness, is proved by the serious accidents the horse encounters through this habit. No life can be careless of its own existence; all creatures are conservatives where their own being is concerned. Would mankind only admit this fact, and seek to gain the confidence of, as they now labor to establish authority over, the horse, gentle words, spoken when the impulse was awakened, might reassure the animal, and would thus frequently save the owner from impending danger.

A third cause is lazy drivers riding on cart-horses, when unhooked, as leaders of the wagon; the poles, called spreaders, which keep the chains asunder, frequently hang so low that, at every movement of the leg, they strike the point of the hock. The uneven paving of some stables is likewise said to produce the disease; in short, anything which may cause the point of the calcis to suffer violence will produce a capped hock.

The cure for capped hock has been differently directed. Some hobble the hind legs of the horse, to prevent its kicking in the night; some fasten a chain and a log to one hind limb, for the same purpose; others suspend a piece of loose cloth at the back of the horse; but the best plan is always to leave a lantern lighted in the stable. The power to see around reassures timidity, while darkness is an awful instigator of terror; horses often fly back in their stalls, but never kick, during daylight.

Then, as to the cure: Such a tumor, when recent, is hot and somewhat painful; at this time, keep it wet with cold water or with a lotion formed of spirits of wine and water in equal parts; when the tenderness has subsided, procure some men who want employment and have strong arms; set these fellows to rub the cap of the hock constantly, and the tumor, in three or four days, or in less time, will have disappeared.

Should the enlargement, however, have become hard, the knife then must be employed; the horse must be cast, and the substance must be carefully dissected out without opening the sac. This being done, remove none of the skin; leave that bagging about the hock; simply treat it with a lotion composed of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one ounce, and the integument will contract. Ultimately there will remain no more than will be required to cover the part, whereas, if any be taken away, the wound, which in these cases never heals quickly, will be very long before it closes, and, in proportion to the skin which has been removed, there will remain a lasting blemish.

There is another caution we have to give the reader before leaving this subject; let no advice persuade, no temptation induce him to puncture, seton, or merely to open capped hock. The membrane lining the swelling is, when diseased, so extremely sensitive that the writer has known the lives of animals endangered by these so-called remedies. The author, moreover, never knew the enlargement to be much reduced by these means; neither has it been the author's lot to witness much good follow the application of blisters. No; extirpation is the only remedy, and it should be accomplished without puncturing the sac; this is as safe an operation as there is in the entire range of veterinary surgery. There is neither nerve, muscle, membrane, vessel, nor any important structure to avoid; with ordinary care, the removal is most easy. There is but one thing annoying connected with the business, and that is, the length of time which the healing of a necessary wound, made upon a point of motion, almost invariably occupies.

CAPPED ELBOW.

This is very common, especially among cart-horses; it is attributed to the calkin of the fore foot; to the point of the hind hoof; or to a stable floor, thinly bedded, and composed of sharp stones. So, likewise, blows with the butt-end of the whip will induce it; but the harness probably guards the elbow, which therefore can be struck only in exceptional cases.

It consists of a bursa, which, as in the former instance, has been injured, and has consequently enlarged; in appearance and in its subsequent course it greatly resembles capped hock, from which it differs only in a greater liability to ulcerate and become sinuous when allowed to remain until it is of extreme magnitude. It is said to derive that unenviable peculiarity from being situated nearer to the center of circulation. Capped hock is so little disposed to take on such a form of disease that the author cannot remember having seen a case of the kind; with a tumor on the elbow, however, ulceration is unfortunately too common. That probability should forbid the owner to allow the tumor to attain any great size; when large, moreover, it is apt to encircle the elbow-joint, and then its size seems to render the removal apparently impossible. It, however, may be extirpated. All said of capped hock applies to capped elbow.

LUXATION OF THE PATELLA.

That is displacement of the whirl-bone of the stifle, (which answers to the knee-cap of the human being.) Such an accident, fortunately, few horses incur; there are many veterinary surgeons who, during a practice extending over many years, have not encountered a single case; whereas other gentlemen will have hardly started in their profession before luxation of the patella is submitted to their notice. It is not peculiar to any district, it is not confined to any special breed; it may affect all kinds of horses in all sorts of places; for it is produced more by the parsimony or the uncharitableness of mankind than by any fault in the structure of the animal.

In several localities throughout the country agriculturists, under the notion of saving money, determine to rear horses on short grass. The creatures are out in the fields during all kinds of weather; the body becomes debilitated under such a starvation system; those parts which are naturally weak become weaker, while those structures which were originally endowed with strength grow comparatively stronger. The beautiful balance of nature is overthrown, and each portion becomes at discord with all the rest; any trivial disease may destroy the life thus at war within its own dominion. Colts frequently exhibit luxation of the patella before they are broken; but it is always provoked by weakness, and commonly only seen where the management is faulty or the food is stinted.

When the whirl-bone is displaced, it is always found as an unnatural lump upon the outer side of the thigh; it cannot, for three sufficient reasons, be drawn to the inner part of the leg. The inner condyle of the humerus, over which the patella plays, is sufficiently large to oppose any unnatural motion in that direction; the inner ligaments are the weakest, and are, therefore, most readily stretched in the outward direction; the circumstances permit the bone to be displaced from the inside of the leg. Then, moreover, the muscles are altogether more powerful upon the outer side. Any force acts more energetically as debility increases, and, to favor it, there is less resistance in the direction opposite to which the force pulls; for these reasons the bone is invariably luxated upon the outer side of the animal's haunch.

The symptoms denoting luxation of the patella are: the leg thrust out behind, and remaining fixed; the horse's entire frame is affected; the head is erect; the muscles quiver; the pastern of the protruded leg is violently flexed; there is an unnatural swelling upon the outer and lower part of the buttock. If the animal be forced to move, it can only imperfectly hop upon three legs; such an accident may occur at any time, and never be repeated. It may, however, become so common as to be mistaken for a species of habit; for luxation of the patella, when by frequency confirmed, will take place upon the slightest possible cause.

In stinted colts the most trivial motion will often give rise to this accident; the creature can hardly move without its leg being thrust out behind it. The cure is, in these cases, anything which may flurry the animal. A noise, made by moving the hand quickly and rather energetically from side to side within a hat, the crack of a whip, or any sudden and loud sound, will occasion the bone to return, with apparent ease and the utmost rapidity, to its natural situation. The colt, however, may the next moment exhibit the misfortune which, in young life, can only be cured by kindly treatment and liberal sustenance.

Probably the author will best describe the nature of the affection in old animals, by narrating a case which a few years ago happened to himself.

At the request of a friend he visited one of those auction marts for the sale of horses which in London are somewhat notorious. The object of his visit being, if possible, to purchase, his attention was directed to certain animals. As usual, a glance enabled him to pass by all the marked "lots," and he had reached the third stable, when his eye rested on a horse which seemed wrongly placed among such companions. It was lively, young, clean legged, short backed, well ribbed up—in fact, one of those rare creatures every inch of which seems made for service. The height was fifteen hands three inches; the color was a dark brown. The author tried in vain to discover if it had any "vice." It appeared perfectly quiet. He examined the feet; he could detect no unsoundness. He went to the office and ascertained the price—twenty-four guineas! It was too cheap! Such an animal would be thrown away if sold for fifty guineas. "Would they give a warranty?" "It was not their custom to give any warranty." "Had the horse megrims?" "No." "Would they grant a trial?" "It was contrary to their rules." Still the author wanted to buy; he would "deposit the cash, and if all proved right take the horse." "They never granted trials; but there stood the owner—the writer could talk to him."

The person alluded to was lounging close to the writer's elbow, and was habited in that half-blackleg, half-blackguard costume which characterizes the low London dealer. The contemplation of this individual did not improve any previous opinion of the matter. However, the man's eye was firmly fixed upon that of his would-be customer, and, rather than encounter a disturbance, the author approached the fellow, to whom he repeated his request. The answers given were too similar to those received from the clerk for the likeness to be purely accidental. The dealer nevertheless saw a trial was imperative to convert the inquirer into a purchaser; and, rightly judging from appearance that there was little of the jocky in the writer's attainments, reluctantly consented to afford the demanded test.

The horse was speedily between the shafts of a very light gig. The man took the reins, placed the whip behind him, and we moved off at the gentlest of possible trots. No objection was taken to the pace; it gave the better opportunity of examining into the soundness. All was right in that particular. The steps were loud and even. After some time, during which the man frequently inquired if "I had had trial enough now?" we left the paved streets, but no entreaty could cause the pace to be improved. At length we came to a rise in the ground, and, as it was approached, my companion turned sulky. Hardly had the horse began to ascend the inequality, before it suddenly stood quite still. The gig was brought to with a jerk, which almost threw both of its occupants upon the footboard. The author was the first out of the vehicle; there stood the horse—the leg out, the foot flexed, the head erect—displaying the evident symptom of luxation of the patella.

An inn was fortunately near the spot. To the yard of the hostelry the animal was with difficulty led. Being sheltered in an unoccupied building, a groom was placed at the horse's head. A long rope, thrown over a beam, was fastened to the fetlock of the protruded limb. By this rope the owner stood; and while he pulled the leg upward and forward, the writer was by the quarters, with both hands pushing the luxated bone inward. The patella soon slipped into its situation; and the horse was afterward sold by auction for four guineas more than the author had refused to pay for it.

Mr. Spooner, in his lectures at the Royal Veterinary College, always recommends his hearers, after this bone has been returned, to place an assistant by the horse's side, with strict orders to hold the patella in its situation for some hours. Such advice is most excellent; to which we can only add, perfect rest, and as much strengthening food as the animal can consume. If such measures are pursued, and the horse be not used for six weeks subsequent to the accident, there need be little fear entertained of a second luxation of the patella.

BLOOD SPAVIN.

This disease is, happily, with the past; the writer has not seen an instance. Neither had the late Mr. Percival—the highest veterinary authority—after a life laboriously passed in scientific research. It is described to have existed as varicosity of the vena saphena, where the vessel crosses the hock. The cause is said to have been bog spavin when of magnitude: this, it is asserted, opposed circulation within the vessel; but the author conjectures the swelling must have assumed the callous state, before it could have offered sufficient resistance to the flow of blood to occasion the vessel to enlarge or to become varicose.

There is no cure for such a disease. The knife may remove the deformity but a larger blemish was often left as the consequence of the operation. Should such a case be known to any of the present readers, the author would advise the enlargement should be left alone, and trust placed in the absorbing powers of nature for its removal.

CHAPTER XIII.

The water should always be mixed without the building; it is never well to excite an animal's fears by allowing it to witness unnecessary preparation. The author is fully aware that most people assert the horse has a very limited comprehension: so it may have; but it has an active terror, which is apt to misconstrue the simplest of motives. Whoever has seen the busy eye of the quadruped watching all that takes place around it, and noting every triviality whenever any unusual movement gives intimation to the animal that something is about to be attempted, will readily allow the need there is for excessive caution. The horse may comprehend nothing, but it is not, therefore, the less to be propitiated. Its terror has to be soothed and its confidence has to be gained; the last is soonest won by avoiding anything which possibly might excite the first.

Always have the heat of the water ascertained by a thermometer. Sensation is only a relative test with regard to the presence or absence of warmth; were it not so, the coarse hand of a groom, nevertheless, might easily endure that degree of temperature which should pain the foot and leg of a horse. Let the fluid in the first instance stand at 70°; after the animal has entered the bath, gradually and without noise increase the temperature up to 90°.

At that standard the water ought to be maintained; the hoof should remain soaking from four to six hours at each operation; the groom, doubtless, will complain of having frequently to fetch warm water, and when not so employed, of being obliged to watch a thermometer; but the present book is not written to please the likings of any individual. To contribute to the welfare of the horse is the object of the writer; that he has not unnecessarily imposed an irksome duty upon any human being, the purpose for which the bath is introduced into the stable should be sufficient evidence.

The horse's hoof is of considerable thickness; it is far from unusual with stablemen to saturate the healthy hoof with various greasy preparations; therefore it will require some time before the heat and water can soften that which is, as it were, prepared to resist their action. The hoof should be rendered perceptibly soft when the object is to relieve a painful lameness; the warmth and moisture should not only saturate the covering to the foot, but should also soothe the internal structures. The pressure of the horn may thus be mitigated, and the deep-seated inflammation likewise be ameliorated.

When the bath is removed, the foot should not be left exposed to the air, as the horn then quickly dries; it soon becomes harsh and brittle. In this condition, it is likely to do more injury to the sensitive parts than good was anticipated as the consequence of its immersion. The hoof, when taken from the water, should be incased in warm and air-proof bandages—the intention being to retain the heat, while evaporation is prevented. The bandages likewise answer another purpose; they protect the foot, which, being without a shoe, and covered by horn that has been deprived of its resistant property, is therefore much exposed to accidents.

To obtain the full benefit of the bath, the foot should enter it night and morning; the animal should be subjected to its operation for at least four hours each time, and the ingenuity ought to be exerted to prevent the hoof from becoming dry in the interim. Perhaps nothing is better for this purpose than the leather case, which is lined with sponge, and which can be procured of most tradesmen who deal in veterinary instruments; it is made to fit the foot, also to envelop the pastern. The bottom portion is formed of the stoutest leather, and will afford all desirable protection; while the sponge will retain the moisture, which this material permits to be renewed, should circumstances, such as the heat of the hoof or the warmth of the weather, cause the fluid to evaporate. However, such additions must always be made with warm, cold water being unsuited for the purpose.

These particulars have been thus fully detailed because lameness constitutes no inconsiderable portion of equine misery, and because such ailments are more frequently encountered than special forms of disease. To judge quickly and surely of such affections proves in no small degree veterinary proficiency; in every shade of lameness, the gentleman, unless more than usually practiced in such ailments, had better be guided by an educated opinion. Where it is possible to mistake another's misery, it displays no boldness to risk chances upon our own judgment.

Lameness is simply the difference of bearing cast, during progression, upon the several legs. Pain in the joints, bones, or tendons is most severe. It is even more terrible when inflammation of such structures is confined within the horny hoof; of this torture man can know nothing—he may rest the angry limb, may recline the body, or may seek consolation in friendly converse and in mental diversion. From all the higher pleasures the horse is excluded. It cannot rest the leg; and the instinctive dread which the sick animal displays of being unable to rise again prevents the quadruped seeking that relief a change of posture might afford.

The horse always stands when seriously diseased; often the erect position is continued to the last, for the sufferer ceases to maintain it only with the relinquishment of life. During severe lameness in one foot, the animal seldom lies down; it stands and stands, often for months. How the limbs must ache! Yet the relief which the slightest motion might induce is avoided with the tenacity which pain begets when operating upon excessive timidity. Often one spot is occupied for months! During this tedious period one foot is held from the earth. The mind shrinks from conjecturing the torture which could prompt such an act; the reason retreats from contemplating the agony by which the deed can alone be occasioned; we shudder as the imagination remotely pictures the pains by which it must be accompanied! Yet who has been much among stables, and has not witnessed many such sights?

It requires small knowledge to recognize those lamenesses to which the heavy breed of horses is particularly exposed. Agony, being excessive, always obliges this species of animal to indicate the limb, or to attract the attention of the spectator toward it. These creatures, when thus affected, if compelled to move, hop onward upon three legs; the weight is never thrown upon the foot which has been severely injured.

Illustrating this subject is the annexed figure of a horse which has been hurt upon the off fore foot; the figure is supposed to be desirous of progressing, or to be in the act of bringing the hind limbs forward. The entire weight having for a certain space to rest upon a single support, some time is spent in accurately balancing the body before this action is hazarded. The slightest mistake would necessitate a fall, of which it has been observed the sick horse is endued with a particular dread. Therefore, after a certain time spent in preparation, the legs are, with much muscular exertion, lifted from the ground, and the sufferer hops onward.

The wretchedness of the quadruped, however, is not complete until one or both hind legs are implicated. From some hidden cause, the anguish of the animal, great as it may be, is not perfected while the lameness resides in front. The horse, suffering in a fore limb, has even laid on flesh during the period of enforced idleness. But when the posterior extremities are injured, the constitution is involved. The body wastes rapidly, and every fiber within the huge framework seems to quiver with sensibility.

If the creature, thus disabled in one leg, is obliged to advance, the chief difficulty is to so place the sound limb upon the earth that the balance shall not be destroyed. There are the two fore legs to rest upon, and the head to act as a kind of counterpoise; therefore there is little impediment to raising of the trunk; but the obstacle consists in the peril to be surmounted when the sound member reaches the ground. A certain shock has then to be sustained, and the fear apparently is lest the slightest want of preparation should bring the body to the earth.

The next motion delineated necessitates the greatest care and the mightiest exertion. There are several signs which declare such to be the case. To advance the two sound fore legs is an effort of despair always preceded by a pause. During the time the feet are from the earth, the entire weight, unrelieved by the slightest counterpoise, must be supported by one sound limb. The muscles on that side have to raise the trunk, or to perform double labor, for the step invariably is a species of leap. The body has not only to be lifted, but the strain must be maintained to continue or rectify the balance. A pause of more than ordinary length declares the magnitude of the approaching struggle. The teeth are clinched; the head is thrown backward; a deep inspiration is inhaled; the muscles are powerfully excited; and, with a spasmodic suddenness, the feet are projected onward.

The step accomplished, the breath is released in a kind of heavy sigh; the animal remains quiescent for a brief space, as though the greatness of the late effort had partially deprived it of consciousness. It is, however, an exceptional ease for a horse of the lighter breed to be thus "hopping lame." In all animals, nevertheless, lameness is a heavy affliction; in all, the manner of progressing is characteristic of pain. Suffering, more or less intense, is declared every time the injured foot touches the ground.

One fore foot being affected, the head and body drop, or slightly sink, whenever the sound member rests upon the earth. This peculiarity a little reflection will readily account for. Of course the desire of a lame animal is to spare the disabled foot as much as possible. The injured part scarcely touches the earth, before, with an effort which raises the head and body, it is lifted again into the air. The least possible burden is thrown upon the disabled foot. However, the weight must be cast somewhere; and by how much less one leg has to carry, so much more must the other support. Consequently, when the sound hoof comes to the ground, the extra burden rests upon it; the head and body perceptibly drop, and the footfall emits an emphatic sound, the accent of which is increased by the all but inaudible tread of the opposite member.

The indication, however, is in some measure reversed when the lameness is situated behind. The movements of the head no longer accompany those of the fore legs; for, although the head be not steady, it evidently is not influenced by the forward members. If, however, the motion be closely observed, it will be found to be regulated by the movements of the posterior extremities, only with a difference. When the sound hind limb rests upon the earth, the head is raised; but the sinking or elevation of the whole body is never so marked as it is in the previous case of anterior injury. The movements characteristic of posterior lameness are, however, well shown in the haunches. When the sound limb reaches the ground, the hind portion of the body obviously drops upon that side; when the painful member is caught up, that side of the haunch on which resides the disabled foot is also jerked upward.

There are other sorts of lameness to be described. A horse is sometimes returned by the smith lame all round. The gait is peculiar, because it is caused by the shoes being too small or tight. It has been likened to skating; and the author thinks the term so applicable that he has no desire to change it. There can, however, be then no difficulty in detecting the cause of the affliction. The horse was, a short time before, sent to the forge a sound animal, and it has been returned a positive cripple.

It is lamentable to remark the number of horses which are driven through the streets of London in a disabled condition. People appear to be without feelings or recognitions when the sufferings of horse-flesh are before them. An animal with scarcely a sound limb, or else "hopping lame," may frequently be seen, in broad daylight, attached to some gentleman's carriage or tradesman's cart, to a hired vehicle or a costermonger's "all sorts." From the highest to the lowest, all are equally disgraced; the toil of a life seems incapable of purchasing a day's commiseration. A little forbearance might be a profitable investment in these cases; but no person seems able to keep a horse and to allow the animal a day of rest. So long as it can crawl, so long must patience work!

Other forms of suffering than those confined to the feet affect the progression of the horse; the "whirl-bone" or hip-joint is sometimes visited by ulceration. The symptoms then in a degree resemble those exhibited when occult spavin is present; the affected limb is, however, after touching the earth, caught up more sharply when the hip is diseased. The hoof, moreover, is presented more fully during motion in the last-mentioned affection. The best method, however, to ascertain the existence of the ulceration, is to hold some soft substance over the joint, then to strike it with a mallet; the shock will be communicated to the seat of lameness, and elicit an energetic response.

Nothing can be done for such a condition; certain barbarities are proposed as experiments by continental veterinarians; but man obviously has no right to run chances with cruelty practiced upon breathing life. Hip-joint disease is decidedly incurable, and renders every step a separate agony.

The shoulder is a very favorite seat of injury with those who pretend to a knowledge of equine ailments; with such simple folk, if a horse be lame behind, the cause is always traced to the whirl-bone; should an animal have partially lost the use of an anterior limb, the injury is invariably found in the shoulder. The proof of their correctness is always exhibited in the lessened bulk of the parts referred to; but throw a limb out of use, as lameness in the horse always does, and the absorption of the whole extremity, from want of exercise, naturally ensues.

The shoulder-joint is occasionally ulcerated; but more often disease is found upon the tendon of the flexor brachii, a muscle which, arising from the shoulder-joint, is of service in flexing the radius. In both cases the seeming length of the arm is remarkable; so also is the fixedness of the shoulder, and the obstinate refusal to advance or to flex the arm. The consequence is, that a horse with disease of the shoulder drags the limb, and never lifts the toe from the ground.

Ulceration is sometimes, though rarely, witnessed within the elbow-joint; a case of this description is recorded by the late W. Percival. The chief symptom indicated subacute laminitis; the affection appeared gradually, and, without intermission, proceeded from simple bad to the very worst. The foot was, however, neither hot nor tender; by this sign the affection was distinguished from every form of fever in the feet, although the animal endeavored to bear only upon the heels of the fore extremities, and brought the hind legs as far under the body as was possible.

Disease of the knee-joint is far from unusual. Mr. Cherry first directed attention to this fact; for, although dissection had frequently exhibited the carpal bones united, no one prior to Mr. Cherry drew any inference from the obvious indication.

Mr. Cherry describes the symptoms of the affection to be a stiffened protrusion of the fore leg, a long step, and an entire want of flexion in the diseased limb.

The author is unable to corroborate the above observations, possibly from his attention only having been directed to a few cases, and those not of a very acute character. The writer has, however, remarked, in certain instances, a perpetual knuckling over, without deposit in the knee or contraction in the tendons being present to account for the assumption of so uncomfortable an attitude. A want of power to bend the leg was noted in a few animals. Such horses either placed the limb outside the body when they lay down, or rested upon their sides; and lameness, though always present, was never witnessed in an aggravated shape.

No human lamentation could embody the deep sorrow which the crippled condition of one leg occasions to the horse. The creature thereby is left a clog upon the earth. Its existence is deprived of the power which alone made it pleasant. Progression is laborious, and even rest is painful. The quadruped, thus disabled, stands motionless on one spot; the head is lowered; the eyes are dejected; the breathing is fitful; and the entire frame is apparently resigned to a huge sense of degradation. All the pride of life is lost. Every trace of animation has fled. The animal evidently is, in its own conviction, useless and disgraced. A horse in such a state is, indeed, a melancholy spectacle; and the feelings of that man who, understanding the image, can contemplate it unmoved are not to be envied. Still, for how many years has such a sight been before the eyes of mankind, without any individual possessing the heart to interpret it!

Surely in all life there exists no other creature so willing to obey—so happy in its labor, and so entirely obedient under command—which is equally subjected to abuse! All the horse demands, in requital for its manifold services, is food and shelter: kindness it does not insist upon, and even bad usage it submits to. For permission to live, it mildly pleads; and in return for the liberality which merely supports the strength, it contentedly resigns its body and relinquishes its intelligence. Yet the natural wants are often stinted, although the toil is always bitterly exacted. Surely in all life there exists no other creature equally subjected to abuse!

The patience of the reader is solicited, while the author notices a circumstance connected with the present subject, which has repeatedly come under his observation. Nothing can so entirely subdue the spirit of a horse as an acute lameness: the suffering must be intense. To a distant conception of the agony endured man cannot excite his imagination. Still, all of the effect upon the quadruped is not to be attributed to that cause. Other diseases are painful, but by them the constitution is affected. Lameness, generally, is a local affliction—it is not a general involvement; it leaves the constitution healthy. Yet a high-mettled, or even a savage animal, is often quieted as by a charm when the foot is disabled. The intractable of the species has, by a sudden visitation of this nature, been rendered passive. The existence seems then to be given up to misery, and the horse becomes disregardful of whoever approaches it. On such a sufferer expend but a little time striving to convince it of your intent. It is astonishing how quick affliction is to comprehend humanity; and the painful foot is given up to man's desires—nay, sometimes it is even advanced for his inspection.

The writer has applied to the crippled feet of horses certain remedies which must have augmented what previously appeared to be the extreme of anguish. The author has been painfully conscious of the agony attendant on the operation; but to his surprise the animals have not flinched, neither have the feet been withdrawn. The quadruped appeared to suffer torture with the patience of stoicism, influenced by the abandonment of utter confidence. The most caustic dressings have been freely employed upon the most sensitive part; yet the creature which, when in health, seemed made up of the acutest sensibilities, has submitted to the torture with more than mortal fortitude. Once win the reliance of timidity, and so beautiful, so entire, so self-nugatory is its confidence.

Little can be said concerning the cure of lameness. The causes are various, and, of course, the remedies are as numerous as the provocatives. One thing may, however, be advised: have the shoe taken off and the foot searched. Never mind the horn being pared away—many a horse limps upon a whole hoof; and it is astonishing upon how small a portion of horn an animal may go sound. The seat of the injury being ascertained, and so much of the inorganic covering removed as may be necessary to afford some relief, always soak the foot in the bath before permitting the final use of the knife. The water cleanses the part, favors the discharge of pus, lowers the inflammatory action, softens the anguish, and destroys the harsh character of the dry horn. This last substance, as was observed, by the united action of warmth and moisture loses its resistant property. It cuts easily when newly released from the bath; and if the knife be sharp, it may be excised without any of that dragging sensation which frequently provokes the animal to snatch away the member while it is being operated upon.

PUMICE FOOT.

Pumice foot is a deformity produced by hard work; it does certainly appear strange, when we regard the beauty and strength united in the frame of the horse, that man's barbarity should exceed Nature's ingenuity. A more captivating present—heightening human pleasures, lessening human toil—than the horse, it is impossible to imagine; but its beauty seems only given for man to deface. A stronger helpmate, when speed is considered, it appeared beyond the most excited imagination to fancy. But the cruelty of the master found it easy to incapacitate the power so exquisitely endowed. The speed was too slow for the eagerness of the rider; the docility was not apt enough for the impatience of the possessor; in every particular the servant seems to have been at fault; and now we hear men gravely lamenting the invention of railroads, because these will interfere with the breeding of horses. Let us hope the establishment of railroads may supply a deficiency which the willingness of flesh and blood was unable to gratify.

Animals bred on a marshy land, and of a loose habit of body, are apt to have weak feet, a specimen of which is given on next page, though not of one belonging to the heavy cart-horse. All the delineations inserted in this book are necessarily extreme cases; it is easy for the imagination to soften the evil when the mind is impressed with characteristics of the thing which is depicted; but not always so free from difficulty for an untutored imagination to magnify a reduced portrait.

A weak foot has a long, slanting pastern; the hoof is marked by rings, showing the irregularity of the horny secretion, and the crust is broken in those places where nails have been driven to fasten on the shoe, proving the brittle nature of the hoof.