THE HORSE. 63 



is true of one part applies to all the horse's furniture, 

 when even the slightest injury is caused to him. 



A misfitting bridle or winker may, and often does, 

 produce blindness or severe shying ; yet this, like many 

 other simple things, has been often overlooked or mis- 

 apprehended, from a natural proneness to forget that 

 " great events from little causes spring." 



Thus, in " Brunette's " case, before named, I proved 

 that the fault lay in the saddle. Some persons attributed 

 her habit of stumbling to cunning ; others, of a more 

 scientific turn of mind, stated it, variously, to be partial 

 paralysis ; the remains of an old strain only felt by the 

 mare when carrying a one-sided weight ; or the result 

 of an old strain, which, owing to the almost imper- 

 ceptible changes in the atmosphere, affecting, as such 

 changes do, the constitutions of all animals, affected her 

 more at one time than at another. 



True it is that the weather and atmosphere exercise 

 considerable influence on the health and spirits of 

 horses ; it is, nevertheless, unnecessary to seek out 

 remote and unaccountable causes, until we have 

 examined the more matter-of-fact ones which are 

 within our reach. 



Sinews. 



When the sinews at the back of the fore legs 

 become thickened, between the knee and the pastern 



