236 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



circumstances. For every other kind of lameness on the road, 

 except that arising from the introduction of a foreign body, and 

 provided the animal is not actually incapacitated for travel, the 

 driver has no remedy but to get the horse to his quarters, letting 

 him go at his own gait. 



We now come to the consideration of the various kinds of 

 lameness, which are to be discovered either by the motions 

 of the animal, or through manipulation ; and w r e set out with 

 the understanding that it is no easy matter, at all times, to 

 discover the real seat of lameness ; even those who are best 

 qualified often disagree both as to its seat and nature. We shall 

 endeavor, however, in a very brief manner, to give some diag- 

 nostic symptoms by which an intelligent man, having some 

 knowledge of normal action, may detect abnormal. We com- 

 mence with 



HIP JOINT LAMENESS. 



This is a very rare lameness, although we constantly hear 

 complaints that such a horse is "lame in the whirl bone." Over- 

 exertion and immoderate work, which are considered the chief 

 causes of lameness, are more apt to produce it in the lumbar 

 region, and from the stifle downwards, than at the hip joint. 

 This form of lameness is quite common in man, and frequently 

 results in anchylosis ; but we must recollect that the limbs of a 

 horse, in consequence of the complexity of their bony and carti- 

 laginous structures, are better calculated to sustain concussion 

 than the former. There is no joint in the horse that is so well 

 protected from blows and every external injury as the thigh- 

 joint : the enormous muscles that surround it act as cushions, 

 and successfully guard it from injury of this kind. If a horse 

 falls on his side, and brings the hind quarters to the ground first, 

 he is more likely to injure that part of the hip known as its an- 

 terior superior spinous process ; in short, he knocks the hip 

 down, as it is termed, or fractures the pelvis, instead of injuring 

 the hip-joint, as some would suppose ; and even should he slip 

 down on the haunches, and force a limb outwards, the abductor 

 muscles, which limit the action of it in that direction, are more 

 apt to be torn from their attachments, than that the joint should 



