STRING-HALT 577 



membrane secretes (or allows to ooze out) a bloody fluid which presses upon 

 the cord, and produces the same effect but in a more gradual manner. 



When a horse falls in hunting, and never moves his hind-legs after- 

 wards, but lies with his fore-legs in the position to get up, groaning and 

 expressing great pain and distress, it may be concluded that he has fractured 

 or dislocated his spine and that the case is hopeless. Sometimes, however, 

 after lying for a few seconds, he slowly and with difficulty rises and is led 

 to a stable, but after two or three hours lies down and cannot be got up 

 again. Here there will be some difficulty in ascertaining whether the mis- 

 chief is confined to a strain of the muscles or is situated within the vertebral 

 canal. If the former is the case the pain is extreme, and generally there 

 will be some quivering or slight spasm of one or more of the muscles of the 

 hinder extremity, which feel naturally firm, while in paralysis they feel soft 

 and are as quiet as they would be after death. By attention to these signs 

 the two cases may be distinguished, but when the case is made out to be 

 true paralysis the treatment is not likely (even if successful in preserving 

 life) to bring about a useful restoration to healthy action. In valuable 

 horses an attempt may be made by bleeding, physicking, and blistering to 

 produce an absorption of the effused serum or blood, but the recovered 

 animal is seldom worth the outlay, and too often as soon as he is put to any 

 kind of work is subject to a relapse. The most humane and certainly tlie 

 most economical plan is to put him out of his misery at once by a pistol ball 

 or knife, but if it is determined to try what can be done towards effecting a 

 cure, no better means can be adopted than those I have alluded to. 



STRING-HALT 



' This is a peculiar snatching up of the hind-leg, and is supposed to de- 

 pend upon some obscure disease of the sciatic nerve. It however is very 

 doubtful whether this explanation is well founded, and thei'e is evidence that 

 in some cases the hock itself has been affected. The extensor pedis seems 

 to be the muscle most severely implicated, though not the only one which 

 is thrown into spasmodic action. No treatment is of the slightest avail. 

 Horses with string-halt are able to do any kind of work, but it is considered 

 to be a form of unsoundness. 



