OF LAMENESS BEinND. STRAIN OF TIIE BACK. jO^ 



sion jf the performer: poor Denis is supposed to have received a kick ^o the 

 Dottom, and his body drifted out to sea, as his Howth friends heard no more 

 of him after that, though "New Harbour" underwent thorough repair since 

 Lawler's last kick. 



STRAIN OF THE WHIRL-BONE (HIP-JOINT). 



A supposititious disorder, that is more frequently found to I e a tardy attack 

 )f bone spavin, that is slow in coming forward, and upon which M. la Fosse 

 n,is thought proper to be very facetious : "a horse has the spavin, or he has 

 h not," says he; "for it is not hke a jack-in-a-box, that waits to make his 

 appearance when you pull the string." Either sjiavin or strain of the whirl- 

 bone, he concludes, must be the disorder of the hind leg, when the animal 

 draws its toe along the road, as described just above as being a symptom of 

 strain in the fore leg. When the animal has received injury in the region of 

 the hip, the camphorated spirits recommended in a preceding page (I9GY 

 should be applied ; but if the heat, swelling, and tension, do not abate by this 

 treatment, blister the parts with the mild blister, No. 3, at yiage 179. This 

 application, with rest, is adequate to any ordinary case of hip-joint accident. 



STRAIN OF THE STIFLE. 



Simple "lameness" would better designate this so-called strain. The 

 same remedies as those prescribed for whirl-bone strani will apply to this part ; 

 also fomentations, physic, and if the case be inveterate, a rowel, &c. <fec. one 

 after another. Camphorated spirits, or ultimately a mild blister, are useful and 

 proper, according to the circumstances just set down. 



STRING-HALT. 



A catching up of the hind leg at every step the horse takes, constitutes wliat 

 s termed string-halt. It is one of the incurables; but this consideration shall 

 not deter me from observing, that this over-action of the hind leg may be 

 brought about by art, or ratlier the ingenuity of man operating upon a known 

 function of nature. 



The cause, naturally arising, is very obscure ; liut the horse-exhibitioners, 

 having occasion for much show at their amphi-theatric courses, sought to bring 

 on this "high show" by jjuncturation. Vo them let the secret belong ; it is 

 barbarous and unseemly. 



STRAIN OF THE BACK 



When the immediate covering of the bones, described in Book I. at page 

 19, become relaxed, and thereby fail to hold the joints together sufficiently 

 firm, the consequence naturally arising I'rom this circumstance is, that they 

 bend a little out of place, at every movement the animal makes, and the least 

 accident confirms the strain, or sprain. Merely straining or stretching will 

 effect this evil at times, though that be no greater than an eflbrt to relieve na- 

 ture by a motion. 



Cause. — Mostly affecting draught cattle of the heavy kind, and principally 

 incident to cities and towns, where dray and cart-horses are obliged to turn 

 short upon slippery stones, we may ascribe this disorder to what is called a 

 wrench, or tvi-ist in the liunuin j)ractice. The steady pull, unattended by a 

 turn, is not likely to occasion hurt of the back, be it ever so hollow^ originallv: 

 because the eflbrt that is made to pull a great weight causes the Joints to prt>k< 

 19 



