THE-:- HORSE 



other hand, is a trauma of the navicular bone, 

 which is an ossicle, or small bone, in the center 

 of the foot. A horse afflicted with this disease 

 usually points his toe when standing at rest. 

 A horse having navicular, will go quite lame 

 when cold, but if the disease is only in its 

 incipiency, he will often warm out of the lame- 

 ness with exercise. Navicular is absolutely 

 incurable. 



Laminitis (founder) is a very common ail- 

 ment of the horse. It is a kind of membrane 

 congestion, often due to overwork after over- 

 feeding, or to excessive drinking when the 

 animal is hot. Soreness in front and rings on 

 the hoofs are an indication of this disease. It 

 always constitutes an unsoundness. 



Before purchasing a horse, he should be 

 made to exercise so that his wind can be 

 examined; a horse with defective wind being, 

 in almost all cases, very unsatisfactory for any 

 kind of work. If a horse, after violent exer- 

 cise, breathes hard, with an audible sound 

 from the lungs, it has defective wind. Also 

 a horse whose sides heave, relaxing and con- 

 tracting to an unusual degree after a certain 

 amount of exercise, has probably defective 

 wind. 



I use defective to denote an impairment of 

 the horse for that work which may be required 

 of him. On the other hand, if the animal, 

 when exercised, merely gives a snorting sound 



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