312 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



when he hunted in Warwickshire, and I beheve he 

 was never better carried — the horse continuing sound 

 for several seasons, although he had string-halt to a 

 considerable degree in one hind-leg. I once had a 

 hunter which had it in both his hind-legs when being 

 " turned over in his stall," as the grooms say, but never 

 when out of his stable : and I had also a cart mare 

 much afflicted with it ; and here it is an evil. On 

 the road it is no detriment to her ; but at plough, 

 when going very slow, it breaks the uniformity of 

 her action, and consequently interferes with that of 

 the others. Several good race-horses have been 

 partially affected by string-halt. 



SPRAINS OF TENDONS, ETC. 



Although all muscular and ligamentous parts are 

 liable to lameness, horses are seldom lame above the 

 leg. Nine times in ten the injury lies between the 

 knee and the ground. I have no reason to complain 

 of injuries to my stud from sprains, having experienced 

 very few bad cases. I can only recollect breaking 

 down one hunter (by a down-leap on to a hard road), 

 and one hack — a thorough-bred one, who broke down 

 in both hind-legs at the same moment, when going 

 at the rate of fifteen miles an hour on a turnpike road. 



There has been a wonderful deal of nonsense written 

 about sprains in horses' legs ^ — such as preternatural 



^ " A sprain is a preternatural extension, or forcible elongation, 

 of the tendons, or a sudden twist of some particular joint, by which 

 the ligamentary junction sustains an injury, and produces lame- 

 ness. Horses having encountered such accidents should be turned 

 out in^a^still and quiet pasture, where they may be free from alarm 



