380 EXAMINATION OF HORSES AS TO SOUNDNESS 



ligament joins on to the deep flexor tendon (Vol. II, p. 294). Tins is the 

 point where sprain most frequently takes place, and where the enlargement 

 which results will be felt when it can be detected nowhere else; but in 

 severe sprain the tendon for a greater or less distance along its course 

 towards the fetlock and the knee becomes enlarged and drives to the lew 

 behind a bowed appearance, hence the term " bowed tendon ". A defect 

 of this kind affecting structures of such importance in any part of their 

 course is a serious one, and at once contravenes the animal's soundness. 

 In front of the tendons, and immediately behind the canon-bone, the 

 suspensory ligament (Vol. II, p. 272) will l)e felt. As we have elsewhere 

 pointed out, this structure divides a little way above the fetlock-joint into 

 an inner and an outer branch, which become inserted into the sesamoid 

 bones behind the fetlock. 



Sprain and thickening of this ligament are more especially seen in 

 hunters, chasers, and race-horses. The injury almost invariably occurs 

 either at the point where it divides above the fetlock-joint, or where its 

 branches join the sesamoid bones; but the spread of the inflammatory 

 action from these centres provokes enlargement for varying distances 

 along its course, according to the severity of the sprain. 



Each individual branch of the ligament should be examined separately 

 and compared with its fellow, and with those of the opposite limb too, lest 

 a slight uniform thickening of the two should be overlooked. Sprain of 

 this ligament is at all times serious, and must be regarded as an unsound- 

 ness. 



The Fetlock-joint. — We now come to the fetlock-joint, where one or 

 more of a variety of diseases incidental to it may be found. One or both 

 of the sesamoid bones are sometimes enlarged, and here again they should 

 be compared one with the other and with those of the oj^j^osite limb, lest 

 slight but important changes be overlooked. 



The joint, as a whole, may be swollen from a general sprain of its 

 structures, or from hard and prolonged wear; but it must be borne in mind 

 that all swellings of this part are not attributable to these causes. 



Some, which are commonly spoken of as "filled" legs, are generally the 

 outcome of slight temporary disturbance of the general system, and will 

 disappear when that disturbance ceases to operate. In special cases this 

 defect may result from a weak heart, in which case it would most likely be 

 permanent or periodic, and the cause of it an unsoundness. 



Bony growths of one sort or another are not seldom found in the region 

 of the joint involving either the canon or long pastern, or both. Such 

 formations are, for the most part, an unsoundness; but the same cannot 

 be said of all. Brushing or interfering is often accountable for enlargement 



