364 THE HORSE. 



La.meness, from whatever cause arising, is unsoundness. However 

 temporary it may be, or however obscure, it lessens the utility of the horse, 

 and rentiers him unsound for the time. How far his soundness may be 

 afterwards alFected, must depend on the circumstances of the case. A lame 

 horse is for the time an unsound one. 



Neurotomy. — A question has arisen how far a horse that has under- 

 gone the operation of the division of the nerve of the leg (see page 110), 

 and has recovered from the lameness with which he was before affected, 

 and stands his work well, may be considered to be sound. In our opinion 

 there cannot be a doubt about the matter. Does the operation of 

 neurotomy render a horse as capable of work as he was before he became 

 affected with the disease on account of which, and to relieve him from 

 the torture of which, the nerve was divided ? Is the operation of neu- 

 rotomy so invariably followed by capability, and continued capability of 

 ordinary and even extraordinary work, that they may regularly be con- 

 sidered as cause and effect? The most strenuous defenders of the nerve 

 operation cannot affirm this. They only say that they partially succeed 

 in almost every fair case — that they perfectly succeed in the majority of 

 cases; but they cannot deny that the horse will batter and bruise that foot, 

 when he has lost sensation in it, which should have been tenderly used ; 

 that even the hoof will sometimes be lost, after operations performed with 

 the greatest judgment; that the lameness will sometimes return after the 

 animal has gone sound, one, two, or three years; and that, after all, there 

 is a little unpleasantness, and even unsafeness in the action of the horse, 

 from the peculiar manner in which the foot meets the ground, when its 

 feeling is destroyed; and that the horse is more liable to accidents; for he 

 will travel on without warning his rider of the evil, after a piece of glass 

 has penetrated his foot, or a stone has insinuated itself between the sole 

 and the shoe ; and thus irreparable mischief will be done, before the 

 cause of it can possibly be detected. A horse on whom this operation 

 has been performed may be improved — may cease to be lame, may go 

 well for many years ; but there is no certainty of his continuing to do so, 

 and he is unsound. 



Ossification of. the lateral cartilages constitutes unsoundness, as 

 interfering with the natural expansion of the foot, and in horses of quick 

 work almost invariably producing lameness. 



PuMicED-FOOT. — When the union between the horny^and sensible lamellee, 

 or little plates of the foot (see p. 291), is weakened, and the coffin-bone 

 is let down, and presses upon the sole, which yields to this unnatural 

 weight, and becomes rounded, and comes in contact with the ground, and 

 gets bruised and injured, that horse must be unsound, and unsound for 

 ever, because there are no means by which we can lift up the coffin-bone 

 again into its place. 



QuiDDiNG. — If the mastication of the food gives pain to the animal, in 

 consequence of soreness of the mouth or throat, he will drop it before it is 

 perfectly chewed. This, as an indication of disease, constitutes unsound- 

 ness. Quidding sometimes arises from irregularity in the teeth, which 

 wound the cheek with their sharp edges; or a protruding tooth renders it 

 impossible for the horse to close his jaws so as to chew his food thoroughly. 

 Quidding is unsoundness for the time; but the unsoundness will cease 

 when the teeth are properly filed, or the catarrh relieved, or the cause of 

 this imperfect chewing removed. 



QuiTTOR is unsoundness. 



Ring-bone. — Although when the bony tumour is small, and on one side 

 only, there is little or no lameness, and there are a few instances in 



