326 CHAPTER 42. 



cases, one before the other. He should be very narrowly watched as he 

 turns in his stall, as any stiffness or irregularity of action is especially 

 noticeable in this preliminary movement. 



For examination, the horse should be led out with a long snaffle rein, 

 with his head as loose as possible, at a very slow trot. Slight cases of 

 lameness are more easily detected when a horse is trotted away at once 

 than if previously walked up and down. There should be nothing to 

 excite him. Everything around should be in a state of rest. Lame- 

 ness may escape detection if the animal is excited. A horse should not 

 be examined in a dealer's yard, except the place is perfectly quiet ; nor 

 unless we can be quite certain that he is brought out of the stable without 

 having been previously exercised. 



After the horse has been trotted away from the examiner, he should 

 watch him most narrowly, as he turns round. Many defects are more 

 easily seen in the act of turning than at any other time. This is espe- 

 cially the case in stringhalt, spavins, etc. 



When the horse is trotted on hard ground, the equal sound or other- 

 wise of the descent of the feet will strike the ear. An inequality of 

 sound may be detected, whilst a slight unevenness of motion may perhaps 

 escape the eye. The sound, one, two, three, four, of the even trot is 

 easily distinguished from irregularity of action. 



The horse should then be led at a walk and the examiner should keep 

 his eye on the very first movements, and observe if the animal trips or 

 knuckles, and also how he puts down his feet, whether he uses them 

 both alike, and whether he flexes his hocks equally. All defects and 

 deviations from true and level action are more noticeable in the first 

 step or two than afterwards. Allowance must however be made for the 

 effect of peculiarities of conformation on the action. 



A Veterinary Surgeon should be able to determine whether the action 

 is true, or at least conformable to the character of the individual horse or 

 not. A horse, for instance, which is over-wide in front or behind, will 

 necessarily roll to a certain degree ; and some clumsy made animals, 

 especially cart-horses, do so to such an extent as to simulate lameness. 

 Others again with very upright shoulders, have naturally short quick 

 action, which must not be confounded with lameness. When a horse has 

 upright shoulders and his fore-legs are rather behind the centre of 

 gravity, he must compensate for this defective shape by short quick 

 action in order to maintain his balance, or else he will be unsafe. The 

 examiner should know the feel of a horse under him, whether he goes 

 quick and short, or rolls, as a result of natural conformation, or from 

 impairment of structure. 



The age, and work which the animal has done, must also be taken into 

 consideration. We do not expect to find an old hunter move in his trot 

 with the elasticity of a four-year-old. There is a gradual impairment of 

 structure always going on in the animal frame with age and work. The 

 excessive degree of stiffness, sometimes observable in old horses, has occa- 

 sionally led to contradictory decisions among Veterinary Surgeons as to 

 their being lame or sound. 



