CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED 311 



medical aid. In case the intestines do not protrude, 

 this is, I beUeve, as safe a plan as can be pursued. 

 Staked wounds upon the chest, shoulder, etc., ought 

 to be washed with some antiseptic and a veterinary 

 surgeon immediately sent for. 



STRING-HALT 



There has been a good deal of speculative amuse- 

 ment about this rather common defect ; but the 

 ablest practitioners of the veterinary art are, I believe, 

 quite at sea as to the cause, ^ or cure. I never saw but 

 one horse with the string-halt in the fore-leg. He was 

 going about five miles an hour in a baker's cart, and it 

 gave a singular appearance to his action. The baker 

 told me he was not a shilling the worse for it, for the 

 purpose he put him to. 



The following is my own experience of string-halt. 

 I purchased a horse in Ireland for £25 which had it in 

 both hind-legs to a great degree, but no horse could 

 beat him over the Kildare country with the little 

 parson on his back, who was the owner of him. I sold 

 him to Colonel Wardle, who rode him several years. 

 He afterwards became the property of a brother-in- 

 law of mine, who rode him till he reached his twenty- 

 sixth year. He was then shot with whole stockings, 

 for I really believe he never fell down in his life. I 

 am much inclined to think the peculiar action of horses 

 thus affected renders them safe on the road. Mr 

 Benson bought a horse, called Jack-Catch, from me, 



^ The causes of string-halt are vsiriable, though in many cases 

 of a very obscure nature. — Editor. 



