i^INTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 445 
on the lower part, it will form a thick ring, encircling that portion of 
the foot immediately above the hoof; when found on the posterior part, 
a small, sharp osseous growth somewhat projecting, sometimes on the 
inside and sometimes on the outside of the coronet, may comprise the 
entire manifestation. 
Cause. — As with splints, ringbones may result from severe labor in 
early life, before the process of ossification has been fully perfected; or 
they may be referred to bruises, blows, sprains, or other violence; or 
injuries of tendons, ligaments, or joints may be among the accountable 
causes. 
It Is certain that they may commonly be traced to diseases and trau- 
matic lesions of the foot, and their appearance may be reasonably anti- 
cipated among the sequelae of an abscess of the coronet; or the cause 
may be a severe contusion resulting from calking, or a deep-punctured 
wound from picking up a nail or stepping upon any hard object of suflB- 
ciently irregular form to penetrate the sole. 
Moreover, a ringbone may originate in heredity. This is a fact of no 
little importance in its relation to questions connected with the extensive 
interests of the stock breeder and purchaser. 
That the hereditary transmission of constitutional idiosyncrasies is 
an active cause with regard to diseases in general, it would be absurd 
to claim, but we do claim that a predisposition to contract ringbone due 
to faulty conformation, such as long, thin pasterns with narrow joints 
and steep fetlocks, may be inherited in many cases, and in a smaller 
proportion of cases this predisposition may act as a secondary cause in 
the formation of ringbone. 
The importance of this point when considered in reference to the policy 
w^hich should be observed in the selection of breeding stock is obvious, 
and, as the whole matter is within the control of the owners, and 
breeders, it will be their own fault if the unchecked transmission of 
ringbones from one equine generation to another shall be allowed to con- 
tinue. It is our belief that among the diseases which are known for their 
tendency to perpetuate and repeat themselves by individual succession, 
those of the bony structures stand first, and the inference from such a 
fact which would exclude every animal of doubtful soundness in its 
osseous apparatus from the stud list and the brood farm is too plain for 
argument. 
Symptoms. — Periostitis of the phalanges is an ailment requiring care- 
ful exploration and minute inspection for its discovery, and is quite likely 
to result in a ringbone of which lameness is the result. The mode of its 
manifestation varies according to the state of development of the dis- 
eased growth as affected by the circumstances of its location and dimen- 
sions. It is commonly of the kind which, in consequence of its inter- 
mittent character, is termed lameness w^hen cool, having the peculiarity 
of exhibiting itself when the animal starts from the stable and of dimin- 
ishing, if not entirely disappearing, after some distance of travel, to 
return to its original degree, if not indeed a severer one, when he has 
again cooled off in his stable. The size of the ringbone does not indicate 
the degree to which it cripples the patient, but the position may, especi- 
