SHOULDER LAMENESS. 239 



faithful and frequent report, can clear up these matters ; and this 

 veterinarians are, or ought to be, setting their minds to the per- 

 formance of. Progress in our knowledge after such a manner, it is 

 true, cannot be but tardy ; once attained, however, it will prove of 

 a character that will be sure ever afterwards to serve us in 

 practice. 



The Causes of Shoulder Lameness are all comprehended 

 under injury in some or other form : we have no notion of the 

 production of lameness of this description apart from some wrench, 

 sprain, stretch (tcart), laceration, contusion, &c. of the shoulder; 

 hence a slip-up, a false step, an over-strained gallop or leap, a 

 violent tugging or pulling of the limb, occasioned by the attrapment 

 of the foot in a rut or rabbit-hole, a collision against any hard or 

 unresisting body of the point of the shoulder, any thing, in fact, that 

 may outwardly injure the horse or may occasion the animal inwardly 

 to injure himself, may prove the cause of a shoulder lameness. 



In riding-school and military practice there is one particular 

 movement which, carried to excess, is exceeding likely to cause 

 shoulder lameness, and that is what is called shouldering-in and 

 shouldering-out. Veterinary surgeons in the army see such cases 

 occasionally ; though, on inquiry, they will generally prove refer- 

 able to abuse of the said practice, and not to the moderate or ju- 

 dicious performance of it. Some years ago I was employed in 

 attending the horses sent to the cavalry depot then established at 

 St. John's Wood. Every now and then a horse was brought to 

 me lame in the shoulder, and, on one occasion, cases of the kind 

 became so prevalent that I was instigated to make inquiries into 

 the causes of them, which, with very little trouble, and less demur, 

 f found to be the strained exercises of shouldering in and out to 

 which such horses had been put in the riding-school. Simple with- 

 drawal of the lame horses from their work, and resting them in 

 their stalls, restored them to soundness ; and a word of caution in 

 the proper quarter put an end to the evil. 



The Treatment of Shoulder Lameness will have to be 

 conducted on those general principles which are our best guides in 

 all similar affections. In making our selection out of the many 

 remedies within our reach, attention should be paid by us to the 



