THE SUSPENSORY LIGAMENTS. 347 



ground. This, however, is from the combined action of the fetlock and pastern- 

 joints, and the sessamoid-bones. The sessamoids do not actually descend ; but 

 they revolve, they partly turn over. The strong ligament by which they are 

 attached to the pastern-bone acts as a hinge, and the projecting part of the 

 bone to which the suspensory ligament is united, turns round with the pressure 

 of the weight ; so that part of the bone becomes lower. How is it raised again? 

 This ligament, strangely constructed as a ligament, is elastic. It yields to the 

 force impressed upon it and lengthens; but as soon as the foot is lifted from the 

 ground, and the weight no longer presses, and the force is removed, its elastic 

 power is exerted, and it regains its former dimensions, and the sessamoid-bone 

 springs back into its place, and by that forcible return assists in raising the 

 limb*. 



It may be supposed that ligaments of this character, and discharging such 

 functions, will occasionally be subject to injury, and, principally to strains. 

 Mr. W. C. Spooner t gives a very satisfactory account of this. He says that 

 ie hunters and race -horses are considerably more liable to lesions of the suspen- 

 sory ligament than any other description of horses. The character of these 

 strains is very rarely so acute as that of the tendons. They generally come on 

 gradually with little inflammation or lameness. Occasionally the injury is 

 sudden and severe, but then it is rarely confined to these ligaments, for although 

 they may be principally involved, the neighbouring parts are generally impli- 

 cated. The usual symptoms are a slight enlargement and lameness at first, or 

 there may be the former without the latter. The enlargement is commonly 

 confined to the ligament below the place of bifurcation, and sometimes one 

 division alone is affected. With the exception of strains of the flexor sinews, 

 this unfits more animals for racing than any other cause indeed horses are 

 rarely or never fit for the turf after the suspensory ligaments have been diseased," 

 or for hunting. 



The case being evidently a lesion of the suspensory ligament, nothing short 

 of firing will be of service. 



The length and obliquity of the pastern vary in the different breeds of horses, 

 and on it depends the elastic action of the animal, and the easiness of his paces. 

 The pastern must be long in proportion to its obliquity, or the fetlock will be 

 too close to the ground, and, in rapid action, come violently into contact with 

 it. It is necessary that the fetlock should be elevated a certain distance from 

 the ground, and this may be effected either by a short and upright, or a long 

 and slanting pastern. In proportion as the pastern is oblique or slanting, two 

 consequences will follow, less weight will be thrown on the pastern, and more 

 on the sessamoid, and, in that proportion, concussion will be prevented. 



Every advantage, however, has, to a certain extent, its corresponding disad- 

 vantage. In proportion to the obliquity or slanting of the pastern, will be 

 the stress on the fetlock-joint, and, therefore, the liability of that joint to in- 

 jury and strain ; and also the liability to sprain of the back-sinews from the 

 increased action and play of the flexor tendons ; and likewise to injuries of the 

 pastern-joints, for the ligaments will be weak in proportion to their length. 



* Mr. Percivall very clearly describes speed, seem to be referable, in part, to tho 



this : " Furthermore, it seems to us that these promptitude with which the suspensory liga- 



elastic parts assist in the elevation of the feet ment can act before the flexor muscles are 



from the ground in those paces in which they duly prepared ; the latter, we should say 



are called into sudden and forcible action, catch, as it were, and then direct the limb 



The suspensory ligament, by its reaction, in- first snatched from the ground by the powers 



stantaneously after its extension, aids the of elasticity." Percivall's Lectures on the 



flexcr muscles in bending the pastern-joints. Veterinary Art, vol. i. p. 334. 

 The astonishing activity and expedition dis- f Mr. W. C. Spooner on the Foot and Leg 



played in the movements of the race-horse at of the Horse, p. 208. 



