84 CHAPTER 8. 



suffer from work. Joints, tendons, and ligaments may suffer, but feet 

 from their construction are not likely to suffer either from age or work. 

 The foot of an old horse is just as sound as that of a young one. 



The legs and joints, we admit, do suffer from work, or rather if over- 

 worked, fail before other parts of the frame. The question, however, is 

 not whether they suffer from work, but whether they suffer more from 

 regular than from intermittent work. Arguing from the structure of 

 joints, tendons, and ligaments, we should conclude that intermittent, 

 especially severe intermittent work, would affect them more injuriously 

 than continued strong work. The severity of work is comparative to the 

 power of sustaining exertion. Let a man not used to walking take a long 

 walk and he will find it severe work, and his joints next day will be stiff 

 and sore all round. Let another man used to that degree of exercise 

 take the same walk, and he will not find it severe. Severity of work, 

 then, is in a great degree comparative to what the person or horse is 

 accustomed to. 



Among the more common effects of work are wind-galls, thorough-pins, 

 and other enlargements about the joints. These all result from increased 

 secretions of synovia thrown out by nature to preserve the joints and 

 tendons from the irritation caused by work. As in the case of the man 

 alluded to above, joints and tendons which are accustomed to the required 

 amount of exertion will be less likely to suffer from irritation than those 

 not accustomed to such exertion. 



Sprains, also, which are another occasional effect of severe work, must 

 be less likely to occur when the ligaments and tendons are fully and regu- 

 larly developed than when they are in a weaker state, as must be the case 

 at the beginning of a hunting season, when the horse has been idle 

 through the summer. The same remarks apply to spavins, splints, and 

 other exostoses, which result from irritation and inflammation in the 

 bony structures. 



But it may be asked, " Do not horses, which have suffered from the 

 severity of work during the hunting season, require to be laid up and 

 rested?" 



If a tendon or ligament is sprained, the horse must of course be laid up 

 and further treatment will be necessary ; or, again, if any disease is set 

 up in the joints, rest and treatment will be required. 



But supposing no such accident to have occurred, and supposing that 

 the tendons, ligaments, and joints merely show " work," their recovery 

 will be promoted rather than retarded by fair and reasonable exercise, by 

 good feeding and good grooming during the summer. No doubt a horse 

 which shows " work " requires abstinence for a time from severe work, 

 such as hunting; but we question whether he will be the better 

 for total cessation from work. In all such cases the tone of the system 

 requires to be stimulated rather than let down. 



147. Exercising ground in summer. 



Again, it is alleged that ground suitable for exercise cannot be found 

 in summer. Fairly soft ground may generally, we reply, be found in any 



