GENERAL EXAMINATION 373 



A side view will tend to confirm or refute some of the conclusions 

 formed from the front aspect, and, in addition, it will enable the 

 examiner to judge as to the normal or abnormal condition of the 

 breathing. He should, while here, examine the back for sores, the belly 

 for rupture, and the groin for scirrhous cord. The presence of this last 

 condition is sometimes marked by a discharge which gathers on the inner 

 surface of the thigh, arid always by a hard enlargement in the scrotum. 

 In stallions occasionally, and less frequently in geldings, hernia in the 

 scrotum, or purse, may exist, and will be recognized by a fluctuating 

 enlargement in the groin. Other enlargements sometimes occur in the 

 scrotum of the stallion, the result of disease, such as varicose veins, or 

 the presence of fluid, as in hydrocele. A horse having any of these 

 defects would of course be unsound. 



The side view should now be extended to the quarters, taking in the 

 hind-limb. Any appearance of " down at the hip" may now be confirmed 

 by manipulation of the part. If this defect be found to exist, the question 

 to be decided is whether the breakage and displacement of the bone is such 

 as to cause lameness or interfere with the horse's services. To a hack 

 or harness-horse it might not be of any consequence, but in the case of 

 a hunter, or race-horse, any considerable fracture and displacement would 

 constitute unsoundness. From this point of view, too, the tail will come 

 under inspection. Sometimes this organ is paralysed and hangs loose and 

 limp, and is altogether incapable of voluntary movement. In these cases 

 the sphincter ani, or round muscle, which ordinarily prevents the escape 

 of the fseces from the bowels, is also involved, and fails to perform its 

 function. Such a state of the parts is essentially one of unsoundness, and 

 the same may be said of an animal recently docked, when, as a result, 

 he becomes the subject of tetanus. 



Carrying the eye downwards, the examiner should notice the direc- 

 tion of the limb and should keep in view any defect of conformation, 

 rendering brushing or other injury during action possible. From this point 

 the presence or absence of curbs, and any enlargements about the joints, 

 or in the course of the bones, tendons, or ligaments, will be noted, to be 

 confirmed later by manipulation of the parts. The same observations as 

 were made in respect to the fore-feet should be repeated on the hind ones. 



Viewed from behind, the symmetry of the two quarters should first 

 be criticized. It sometimes happens that from various causes the muscles 

 of one side of the croup are wasted. The existence of such a state may 

 be associated with spavin of the same limb, or with some other disease 

 which has caused the muscles of the quarter to be thrown more or less 

 out of use during its existence. 



