THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 239 



the animal will flinch when the parts are handled, and sometimes 

 catch the leg up ; if you back him out of the stall, and make 

 him step forward, it will be observed that there is free motion 

 in the fetlock joint — the foot is planted on the ground with that 

 freedom denoting there is nothing the matter with it ; he can 

 raise the leg, showing that the stifle joint is all right ; and there 

 is perfect freedom about the hip joint, so that the seat of lame- 

 ness is evident. This is the state of affairs in the early stage : 

 let the animal be the subject of lameness for two or three days, 

 and we observe sympathetic affection ; that is to say, stiffness 

 and pain, which is the cause of lameness in a remote part of the 

 limb. And this peculiar feature is not one of singularity, for 

 we find the same thing takes place in man : persons laboring 

 under hip joint disease are often heard to complain of pain in 

 the knee, the opposite extremity of the diseased bone. There is 

 nothing better for recent lameness of the hock than arnica, either 

 in the form of diluted tincture or infusion. The parts are to be 

 kept wet, by means of a sponge, so that a cooling process shall 

 go on during the inflammatory stage ; and even should the case 

 prove to be one of incipient spavin, such treatment is well calcu- 

 lated to meet it. Rest, also, is one of the principal means of 

 cure : those who work a horse lame in the hock must not be 

 surprised if he should ultimately prove spavined. If the horse 

 shows symptoms of an inflammatory diathesis, or morbid habit, 

 a dose of medicine and a few messes of scalded shorts will do 

 much good. 



LAMENESS OF THE SHOULDER. 



Lameness is more apt to arise in the shoulder than in the cor- 

 responding part of the hind extremities ; the latter having a bony 

 union to the body, which prevents, or rather limits, undue exten- 

 sion of the muscles. The lameness may exist in the muscular 

 tissues, or at the point of articulation between the shoulder blade 

 and the os humeri. 



Symptoms. — The principal diagnostic symptom is, that the 

 horse, instead of advancing the leg straight forward, moves it in a 

 circular manner ; and the action of the shoulder is quite different 

 from that of the other side ; it will be observed also, that the 



