DEFECTS OF CONFORMATION AND DEFORMITIES 375 



displayed until weight is placed on the back. It is therefore necessary 

 to a thorough examination that the horse be trotted for 50 yards in hand 

 backwards and forwards on a loose rein, at an easy pace, and then again 

 under saddle, first on soft ground and then on hard. While this is going 

 on, his movements should be carefully criticized, both as to the natural 

 action, which may be close and " brushing", as well as to the presence 

 of actual lameness. 



There is an idea in the minds of some that where lameness exists 

 the affected animal " drops" on the lame limb, but, as matter of fact, 

 the reverse is the case. When the unsound leg is on the ground the 

 head is elevated, in order that the muscles may relieve it of a certain 

 amount of weight, and when the sound limb meets the ground the head 

 " drops" with it. The same kind of movement is observed where lame- 

 ness occurs behind. It is well known that lameness is aggravated when 

 passing from soft to hard ground, and some veterinarians have regarded 

 this phenomenon as indicating the foot as the seat of trouble. Our 

 experience is, that when the cause of lameness is in the foot the difference 

 in the intensity of lameness in passing from the softer to the harder 

 surface is greater than when the cause is elsewhere, but we do not con- 

 sider that the test is of any diagnostic value. 



DEFECTS OF CONFORMATION AND DEFORMITIES 



There are certain defects of conformation which, if they are not them- 

 selves unsoundness, sooner or later lead to it when existing in a pro- 

 nounced form, and the examiner must be on his guard in respect to the 

 amount of licence he permits in them. Among these, turned-out toes 

 is in certain instances a fruitful source of trouble, and especially when 

 the pasterns are long and the horse is narrow in front; and the defect 

 is still further fraught with mischief when the feet are large. Brush- 

 ing, cutting, and interfering are the common consequences of this form 

 of development. If the out-turn of the feet is not considerable, and the 

 pasterns not too long and sloping, and at the same time there is an 

 absence of any marks of brushing, no serious importance may attach 

 to it, and especially if the horse has been in regular work. When, how- 

 ever, in these cases the animal is wearing a feather-edged shoe and the 

 inner quarter of the foot has been rasped away, there is ground for 

 suspecting that the horse is in the habit of brushing when undefended 

 by these artificial means. 



Legs bent over at the knee, " knee-sprung ", or that form in which the 

 bend is forward at the knee, is another very common defect of conforma- 



