DISEASES OF THE HOKSE. 283 



left side, and vice versa. But if the left leg, becoming disabled, 

 relieves itself by leaning, as it were, on the right, the latter becomes, 

 consequently, practically heavier, and the mass of the body will incline 

 or settle upon that side. Lameness of the left side, therefore, means 

 dropping or settling on the right, and vice versa. We emphasize this 

 statement and insist upon it, the more from the frequency of the 

 instances of error which have come under our notice, in which parties 

 have insisted upon their view that the leg which is the seat of the 

 lameness is that upon which lie drops, and which the animal is usually 

 supposed to favor. 



HOW TO DETECT THE SEAT OF LAMENESS. 



Properl}' appreciating the remarks which have preceded, and fully 

 comprehending the modus operandi and the true pathology of lame- 

 ness, but little remains to be done in order to reach an answer to the 

 question as to which side of the animal ths lameness is seated, except 

 to examine the patient while in action. We have already stated our 

 reasons for preferring the movement of trotting for this purpose. In 

 conducting such an examination the animal should be unblanketed, 

 and held b}^ a plain halter in the hands of a man who knows how to 

 manage his paces, and the trial should always be made over a firm, 

 hard road whenever such is available. He is to be examined from 

 various positions — from before, from behind, and from each side. 

 Watching him as he approaches, as he passes by, and as he recedes, 

 the observer should carefully study that important action which we 

 have spoken of as the dropping of the tody upon one extremity or the 

 other, and this can readily be detected by attending closely to the 

 motions of the head and of the hip. The head drops on the same side 

 on which the mass of the bodj^ will fall, dropping toward the right 

 when the lameness is in the left fore leg, and the hip dropping in pos- 

 terior lameness, also on the sound leg, the reversal of the conditions, 

 of course, producing reversed effects. In other words, when the ani- 

 mal in trotting exhibits signs of irregularity of action, or lameness, 

 and this irregularity is accompanied by dropping or nodding the head, 

 or depressing the hip on the right side of the body, at the time the 

 feet of the right side strike the ground, the horse is lame on the left 

 side. If the dropping and nodding are on the near side the lameness 

 is on the off side. 



But in a majority of •cases the answer to the first question relating 

 to the lameness of a horse is, after all, not a very difficult task. There 

 are two other problems in the case more difficult of solution and which 

 often require the exercise of a closer scrutiny, and draw upon all the 

 resources of the experienced practitioner to settle satisfactorily. That 

 a horse is lame in a given leg may be easily determined, but when it 

 becomes necessary- to pronounce upon the query as to what part, what 



