ELBOW-JOINT LAMENESS. 229 



wound. Usually, it heals in from ten to twenty days, scarcely any 

 blemish follows, and the horse becomes restored. The operation 

 has repeatedly succeeded in horses that have been lame for a year 

 and upwards ; and has been repeated on the same horse with like 

 success. 



Elbow-joint Lameness. 



Had it not been for a luckless wight of a horse of my own, my 

 pen must have remained silent on this subject. The case is 

 complete in every stage of its history, from its very insidious and 

 dubious beginning down to its unfortunate and fatal termination. 

 To me, all the way through, it proved a mystery ; to others it may 

 answer the purpose of a beacon in the event of their ever en- 

 countering a rara avis of the sort. 



The subject of the disease was a chestnut gelding I got, in the 

 year 1843, in a swap with Mr. Sewell, dealer in horses, Pimlico. He 

 was then rising five years old, and looked like a weight-carrying 

 hunter and useful harness horse, being in appearance little more 

 than half bred. He was well shaped everywhere save in his 

 fore legs ; and they were not deficient in power, but were strik- 

 ingly calf-kneed, with toes inclined outward, and action dishing 

 and slovenly, the consequence of which was, that, in his usual 

 careless jog trot, he made frequent stumbles through hitting his 

 toe, although when excited or put into a gallop his action im- 

 proved greatly, so much so indeed in the latter pace that it was in 

 the eye of a sportsman undeniable. Though I used him mostly 

 in harness, T occasionally rode him, and paid dearly enough for it 

 by his having thrice fallen upon his knees with me. In neither 

 fall, however, did he hurt himself; only on one occasion, indeed, 

 did he graze the hair upon his knees. Still, I repeat, he was an 

 excellent galloper, and turned out a capital jumper, and more than 

 once acquitted himself very creditably with the Queen's hounds. 



Soon after I purchased him — in the spring of 1843 — he took 

 the catarrhal influenza prevalent about that time, but had it favour- 

 ably, and speedily recovered ; since which, to the summer of 1845, 

 be ailed nothing, but regularly did his work, which was extremely 

 moderate. 



