NEUROTOMY. 193 



from the operation, *' and went sound." The consequence was he 

 escaped being " cast" for sale, and was chosen as " one of the 

 effective for the expedition to Portugal." He carried his rider all 

 the time the regiment remained abroad, and returned, and was at 

 the time Mr. C. wrote out his case (December 1829) present, doing 

 his duty, with the regiment*. 



I shall next relate a case that occurred to Mr. Rick man — a 

 name likewise associated with the practical worth of the early 

 Numbers of The Veterinarian — which is remarkable on account 

 of the extraordinary feats the horse, after being neurotomized in both 

 fore feet, was enabled to perform, as well as for the extraordinary 

 increase of value the operation conferred upon him. It is as 

 follows : — 



Case 3. — A beautiful chestnut horse, six years old, for which 

 his owner (a farmer) had refused a hundred guineas, though he 

 possessed " good circular hoofs" became a little lame in both fore 

 feet, but more so in the near than the off. A farrier who attended 

 him pared his soles, and blistered his coronets, and finally fired 

 him from hoofs to knees; after which he was turned out, but came 

 up, six months afterwards, worse than when he went out. Mr. 

 Hilding, a friend of Mr. Rickman's, related the case to him, and 

 consulted on the policy of purchase of the horse for the purpose of 

 neurotomy. Mr. R.'s advice was to do so. Accordingly the lame 

 horse was bought for £12 for Mr. Rickman to neurotomize. The 

 operation was performed on both legs, below the fetlock joints. 

 The horse was rendered by it, immediately, " quite sound." His 

 new master, Mr. Hilding, who is a very superior horseman, rode 

 him, afterwards, two seasons with the Shropshire hounds, and 

 whenever they had a long run he was always in the front. He 

 was offered 200 guineas for the horse, providing he would give a 

 warranty, which however he could not, of course, do. Subse- 

 quently, the horse was sold for 60 guineas to Mr. Gittins, who 

 rode him for two years with Sir Richard Puleston's hounds. He 

 had then been operated upon four years, and still continued sound. 



* These two cases will be found in ample detail in the second volume of 

 Thb Veterinaeian, pp. 493-5. 



VOL. IV. C G 



