384 STRINGHALT. 



to much of the above quotation, as holding as true now as it was 

 when it was written, yet does it not enlighten us upon the point 

 whereupon we are seeking information. We grant, we have signs 

 to direct us to the shoulder as the seat of lameness ; but are we 

 acquainted with which of these signs we are to take for rupture or 

 lesion of muscle, which for sprain or lesion of the bursal apparatus of 

 \he. flexor brachii, and which for inflammation or ulceration of the 

 shoulder-joint itself? Because, this is the distinctive point we desire 

 to arrive at ; and if we cannot reach it, and satisfactorily reach it, 

 where do we find our diagnosis 1 So far as shoulder lamenesses are 

 to be discriminated one from another, in point of fact, ''nowhere!'' 

 All our judgment merges in the case being a shoulder lameness; 

 and having said that, we have, in truth, said as much as we really 

 know for certain about the matter. 



STRINGHALT. 



Stringhalt consists in an involuntary or convulsive action of 

 one or both hind legs. 



The Symptoms of it are, a singular and ridiculous gait in the 

 hind quarters, occasioned by the horse suddenly catching or snatch- 

 ing up one or both hind legs, sometimes with such force as to 

 strike his fetlocks against his belly, particularly observable when 

 first moved in the morning after a night's repose. No sooner, how- 

 ever, is the horse put into quick and continued motion, such as a full 

 trot or gallop, than the stringhalt vanishes ; so that in the fast pace 

 we should not discover that the animal was the subject of stringhalt. 

 It has been said that even in the slow pace, after a protracted walk, 

 the convulsive action " goes off," and " the natural action returns." 

 My observation, however, does not confirm this. 



The following facts, connected with stringhalt, may be 

 useful in shedding light upon its mysterious and disputed nature 

 and seat. There are more instances, I believe, of its affecting one 

 than both hinds legs. It never — or at least extremely rarely — is 

 seen in a fore limb : Blaine says, " he has met with one or two 

 instances of it;" I have not seen one. Neither do I remember 

 to have observed it in the young, or, at least, in the unbroke or 



