i84 



ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



Bearing of 

 condition 

 on 

 injuries. 



Wither 

 injuries. 



The evil of soft condition is more readily shown by friction than by 

 pressure. It is remarkable how little friction the soft horse can tolerate. 



The tolerance of both friction and pressure is characteristic of the 

 horse in hard condition, and we see the same in the well-trained man, 

 who is very difficult to bruise. 



Condition enormously influences the production of sore backs, and 

 condition may be of three kinds : 



1. Hard condition, such as we meet with in the full-fed, hard- 



worked horse. 



2. Poor condition such as is met with in the horse under-fed and 



over-worked. 



3. Soft condition, well seen in the fat horse who has done no 



work. 



No. I takes a lot of friction and much pressure, but Nos. 2 and 3, 

 though at opposite poles, behave as if identical. In No. 2 the vitality and 

 resisting power are lowered through hard work and insufficient food ; in 

 No. 3 there is a good deal of vitality, but of a fluid kind, it soon evaporates, 

 while of resisting power there is none. 



In every function of a horse's life the question of condition presents 

 itself. It influences lameness and sore backs, it is the basis of staying 

 power and resistance to disease. 



It may be said that there is no part of a saddle which is not capable 

 of producing an injury, though it is certain that some parts produce it 

 more frequently than others. 



Wither injuries. — The withers are the most frequent seat of injury at 

 the present day, and there are several causes in operation to account for 

 this. 



An injury to the withers may be on the top or on the sides ; the class 

 of wither most commonly affected is the high lean one or the short thick 



Wither injuries are caused by the following : — 



1. The numnah resting on the spine either through the strap not being 



buckled or through it having broken. 



2. The front arch of the saddle being narrowed and filled up by too 



many folds of the blanket, aggravated, perhaps, by a saddle too 

 narrow in the arch. This is especially evident in a horse with 

 thick withers. 



3. Loss of "back muscle," by which the entire saddle is brought 



nearer to the bony framework. This is especially evident in a 

 horse with high withers. 



