m CEASES OF HOUSES. 387 



the point at which the horse least endures the pressure of the 

 finger, will be the principal guides. Occasionally, by the 

 application of cooling lotions, the inflammation may be sub- 

 dued, but at other times, the horse suffers dreadfully, and is 

 unable to stand. A serious affection of the fetlock-joint 

 demands prompt treatment. 



CUTTING The inside of the ietlock is often bruised by 

 the shoe or the hoof of the opposite foot. Many expedients 

 used to be tried to remove this ; the inside heel has been 

 raised arid towered, and the outside raised and lowered; and 

 sometimes one operation has succeeded, and sometimes the 

 contrary ; and there was no point so involved in obscurity or 

 BO destitute of principles to guide the practitioner. The most 

 successful remedy, and that which in the great majority of 

 cases supercedes nil others, is Mr. Turner's shoe, of equal 

 thickness from heel to toe, and having but one nail, and that 

 near the toe on the inside of the shoe; care being taken that 

 the shoe shall not extend beyond the edge of the crust, and 

 that the crust shall be rasped a little at the quarters. 



SPRAIN OF THE COFFIN-JOINT. The proof of this is when 

 the lameness is sudden, and the heat and tenderness are prin- 

 cipally felt round the coronet. Bleeding at the toe, physic, 

 fomentation, and blisters are the usual means adopted. This 

 lameness is not easily removed, even by a blister ; and if 

 removed, like sprains of the fetlock and of the back sinews, 

 it is apt to return, and finally produce a great deal of disor- 

 ganization and mischief in the foot. Sprain of the coffin - 

 ><>int sometimes becomes a very serious afiair. Not being 

 always attended by any external swelling and being detected 

 only by heat round the coronet, the seat of the lameness is 

 often overlooked by the groom and the farrier ; and the dis- 

 ease is suffered to become confirmed before its nature is 

 discovered. 



RINGBONE. This is a deposit of bony matter in one of 

 the pasterns, and usually near the joint. It rapidly spreads, 

 and involves not only the pastern-bones, but the cartilages of 

 the foot, and spreading around the pasterns and cartilages, 

 thus derives its name. When the first deposit is on the lower 

 pastern, and on both sides of it, and produced by violent 

 inflammation of the ligaments of the joints, it is recognised 

 by a slight enlargement, or bony tumor on each side of the 

 foot, and just above the coronet. Horses with short upright 

 joints, and with small feet and high art ion, are oftenest, as 

 may be supposed, the subjects of this disease, which is the 



