78 STRAINS. 



ticulai* laiiieness, fixing it by conjecture upon 

 any part (attributing it to any cause) but the 

 right ; and to this they are seldom directed 

 by any mental information, possessing a Very 

 barren conception of the structure of parts, 

 their purposes, or appropriations. The inus- 

 cle^ Of tendons (by farriers generally termed 

 sinews) are strong elastic substances, com- 

 posed of innumerable threads or fibres, pos- 

 sessing the properties of extension and con- 

 traction to a certain degree, beyond which 

 their flexibility or elasticity cannot be ex- 

 tended without palpable injury, and certain 

 lameness ; for, by overstraining, their elastic 

 quality (or affinity to catgut) is in a great 

 measure destroyed in proportion to the in-* 

 jury sustained. To render this idea so clear 

 that it cannot be misunderstood, let us sup- 

 pose that a horse is going at his rate, and in 

 so doing his toe covers ^ prominence, or the 

 edge of one, where the heel has no support, 

 it consequently extends the tendons beyond 

 the distance afforded by nature, and instantly 

 constitutes what is called a letting down of 

 the back sinews ; a circumstance that con- 

 stantly happens upon the turf in running for 

 a heat, and the horse is then said to have 

 been *' broken down," 



