396 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



INTERFERING 



In this term are included a variety of disordered movements, during 

 which the foot of one limb is brought into more or less forcible contact with 

 another, giving rise to wounds and contusions of various degrees of severity 

 on the part struck. 



Brushing, cutting, overreaching, and speedy cutting are the more 

 common defects to be dealt with under this heading. 



BRUSHING 



This takes place when the foot of one limb habitually though lightly 

 strikes the inner side of the fetlock or coronet of the corresponding leg of 

 the opposite side. The defect may be confined to one leg in front or 

 behind, or it may involve two, or the whole of them. A repetition of the 

 act causes soreness and swelling of the part struck, and may induce 

 lameness. 



CUTTING 



Cutting is distinguished from brushing only in the fact that the blows 

 are more severe and inflict a wound in the skin. 



Causes. — Conformation plays an important part in disordering the 

 movements of the limbs and inducing these injui-ies. 



Large, spreading feet, long, sloping pasterns, with inward or outward 

 inclination of the toes, also conduce to it. In the latter case there is always 

 a tendency on the part of the fetlock-joints to approach each other, and the 

 more pronounced this is the greater is the risk of striking. 



Weakness from old age, overwork, insufficient food, or disease is also a 

 fruitful cause. 



Young horses fresh from the pastures, which have not yet learnt the use 

 and control of their legs when under saddle or between shafts, are most 

 commonly addicted to brushing and cutting, and especially when tired or 

 out of condition. 



Defective shoeing, especially when coupled with faulty conformation, 

 also conduces to this mishap. A shoe fitted too full, i.e. allowed to project 

 beyond the crust on the inner side, is a frequent cause of it in young horses 

 and in others when tired. 



Cutting occurs much more frec^uently in the hind fetlocks than in the 

 front ones, particularly where horses are engaged in carriage work. 



This discrepancy in favour of the front legs may, as Goubaux and 

 Barrier affirm, be " owing to the fact that the separation between the hind- 



