14 LAMENESS. 



the lame foot or not (supposing it to be a fore one) in his stall, or 

 rests it if it be a hind one, whether his lameness abates after rest, 

 or whether the lameness increases much or little after work, or, as 

 is not infrequently the case, whether it proves less perceptible 

 while the horse is at work, and is most manifest on his first egress 

 from his stable ; I repeat, with this information, and with all that 

 can be learnt besides from the horse's manner of going and putting 

 down his foot, the veterinarian, as the horse stands before him, 

 sets about inspecting the lame limb, and examining it in every 

 part with his hand. Some lamenesses* are perceptible to the 

 eye, and discoverable by the eye better than by the hand ; others 

 are detectible by the hand alone ; while, again, there are others 

 that elude detection by either eye or hand, and which can be 

 judged of through the action alone, aided by the horse's manner 

 of standing. A quick eye, judging from the general appearance 

 of the lame horse and from his mode of going, even in the absence 

 of any manifest disease or defect to account for the lameness, will 

 very often discover at once the seat and nature of it : on the other 

 hand, a man accustomed to the feel of legs and feet will, in the 

 dark, be able to detect the seat of ordinary lameness as well as if 

 he had actually been looking at the parts he has been feeling. I 

 remember hearing the present Profesor, Sewell, at the Veterinary 

 College of London, say, he was able, could he but hear a lame 

 horse trot, without seeing him, to pronounce which was the lame 

 leg. It is, therefore, possible for a blind man— and more possible, 

 from the well-known acuteness of his faculties, for him than for a 

 man who blinds or excludes himself from view of the lame horse — 

 to say of what leg a horse goes lame, and afterwards to ascertain 

 with the best of judgment the seat and nature of the lameness. 



Nature of Lameness. — The disease, defect, or deformity, 

 giving rise to lameness often becomes to the veterinary surgeon 

 apparent so soon as its locality or seat is satisfactorily ascertained. 

 He knows that foot lameness, in the absence of laminitis and such 

 diseases as shew themselves externally, commonly proceeds either 

 from inflammation or ulceration of synovial tissues; he knows 



* Used here and in other places for that which causes the lameness. 



