CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED 325 



ing autumn, a large black-thorn issued from between 

 hair and hoof ! She was then sound ; but it availed 

 nothing, for she caught cold at grass, became a 

 roarer, and this capital mare — for there were few 

 better — was thus rendered useless from want of proper 

 management. 



More hunters are ruined by stubs or splinters of 

 wood running into their legs and feet than by thorns. 

 Indeed, when we reflect on the many hundred times 

 in the course of a season that hunters, ridden in close 

 woodland countries, alight, from high banks, on ground 

 nearly covered with sharp-pointed stubs, from which 

 faggots, stakes, etc., have been cut, we must confess 

 our surprise that accidents do not oftener happen. 

 Many good horses, however, are, I fear, annually 

 lamed by being stubbed, as we call it, many of which 

 are so far injured as to be destroyed. 



In the first place, there is no judging of wounds 

 but from appearance and locality ; therefore a 

 description of them is useless. Add to this, it so 

 often happens that ligaments, tendons, or nerves 

 become wounded, the treatment of which — fatal con- 

 sequences being always so near at hand — requires 

 all the skill of the regularly-bred veterinarian, who 

 alone is fit to direct it, and observe the attempts of 

 Nature in their progress. Contused and lacerated 

 as the parts are from accidents of this nature, we cannot 

 be surprised at the violent inflammation which too 

 often ensues. Wounds about the elbow, etc., are very 

 liable to be followed by an accumulation of air beneath 

 the skin. 



