160 



THE MODKRN SYSTEM 



CHAPTER XV. 



OF STRAINS IN GENERAL ; STRAIN IN THE SHOULDER ; STRAIN OR 

 CLAP IN THE BACK SINEWS ; OVER STEPPING ; BREAKING DOWN ; 

 RUPTURE OF THE BACK SINEW; STRAIN OF THE FETLOCK JOINT ; 

 STRAIN IN THE COFFIN JOINT; STRAIN OF THE ROUND BONE; 

 STRAIN OF THE STIFLE JOINT ; AND ON CURB. 



OF STRAINS IN GENERAL. 



Strains are a part of this work to which 

 such frequent application will be made for 

 iiitbrmation, that they cannot be too accurately 

 explained for the purpose of being understood ; 

 therefore, to understand this subject clearly, 

 it is unavoidably necessary to be informed, 

 not only of the causes from which such com- 

 plaints proceed, but the parts that constitute 

 the seat of disease itself. 



To acquire which, let it be observed, strains 

 are of two kinds ; the one originating in the 

 ligamentary parts, by which the different 

 joints are preserved in contact ; the other, by a 

 relaxation of the muscles or tendons, or by a 

 rupture of any of the membranes covering or 

 adherin to such tendons, whose purposes are 

 the direct office of motion. Hence it is, that 

 the farrier and the groom are so frequently 

 at a loss for their definition of any particular 

 lameness, fixing by conjecture upon any part, 

 attributing it to any cause but the right ; and 

 to this they are seldom directed by any mental 

 information, possessing a very barren concep- 



tion of the structure of parts, their purposes or 

 appropriations. 



The elastic part of a tendon or sinew, is 

 the muscular, to which in fact the tendon 

 is a continuation only, with this difference, 

 the tendon is made by nature to occupy 

 a much smaller space than muscle, for it 

 would look rather awkward to see the mus- 

 cles of the fore leg extending down to the 

 heel of the Horse, instead of that fine uniform 

 make which the tendon gives, and especially 

 in the race Horse: the tendon is not of that 

 elastic nature that some writers have described, 

 but it is the muscular end where the elasticity 

 exists ; this at first sight would appear 

 strange, for the injury takes place in the ten- 

 don, not in the muscle ; and for this reason, 

 the non elasticity of the tendon and its sheath 

 will rather submit to rupture, and that for 

 want of the elastic quality; these tendons, or 

 sinews, are strong substances, composed of in- 

 numerable threads or fibres, possessing the 

 properties of extension and contraction to 

 a certain degree, beyond which their (lexi- 

 bilily cannot be extended, without palpable 



