LAMENESS. 11 



extraordinary feats of trotting or galloping. In such cases as these 

 it is imperative that the horse be either ridden or driven until he 

 break out into a sweat, and afterwards that he be tied up in his 

 stall and left at rest for an hour or so, until he has become quite 

 cool, and then seen again in the trial trot : in this manner lame- 

 ness, not discoverable through ordinary running, is often made 

 manifest. 



III. The horse under examination for lameness should be nun or 

 ridden for the distance of thirty yards or so in a direct line from 

 and back to the examiner. We have already seen that any ma- 

 terial deviation from the way in which a horse — and in particular 

 a young horse — has been accustomed to go is apt to create some 

 difficulty or peculiarity in the gait that might be mistaken for 

 lameness ; therefore the animal under examination should not, at 

 all events in the first instance, be put out of his usual or natural 

 mode of trotting. Should this trial fail upon ordinary ground to 

 elicit lameness, trotting upon a surface of a different kind, upon 

 hard ground or pavement, or upon soft ground into which the foot 

 sinks under the weight of the tread, and making these transitions 

 suddenly, may possibly cause the animal to divulge it. Or it 

 may be requisite to essay what some forced or unaccustomed move- 

 ment will do towards eliciting the secret ; though, while this ex- 

 periment is making, care must be taken, as was said before, that 

 any difficulty in the action created thereby is not mistaken for 

 lameness. The retrograde movement or hacking, the circular or 

 longeing, the lateral or passaging, or running or riding the animal 

 at a sharp trot for a short distance, and then as suddenly as possible 

 arresting him in his course, and the same instant turning him 

 sharply round upon his hind quarters, may each or all of them in 

 turn be put into practice, and, with the foregoing reservation, taken 

 as tests of the presence of lameness. The sudden arrest of the trot, 

 and the simultaneous turning about upon the hind limbs as upon 

 a pivot, especially tend to elicit lameness in those limbs : not un- 

 frequently a horse will hardly shew his lameness behind until he 

 comes to be suddenly arrested, and then he instantly drops his 

 croup upon the sound side. 



The Error most apt to be committed in determining 



