256 



THE FORE LEGS. 



weight is thrown on it. This is particularly evident when the horse is going down 

 hill, and the injured limb bears an additional portion of the weight. In the stable, 

 too, when, in other cases, the horse points or jjrojects one foot before the other, that 

 foot is usually flat on the ground. In shoulder-lameness, the toe alone rests on the 

 ground. The circumstance which most of all characterises this affection is, that 

 when the foot is lifted and then brought considerably forward the horse will express 

 very great pain, which he will not do if the lameness is in the foot or the leg. This 

 point has been longer dwelt upon, in oider that the reader may be enabled to put to 

 the test the many cases of shoulder-lameness, which exist only in the imagination of 

 the groom or the farrier. 



In sprain of the internal muscles of the shoulder, few local measures can be adopted. 

 The horse should be bled from the vein on the inside of the arm (the plate vein), 

 because the blood is then abstracted more immediately from the inflamed part. A 

 dose of physic should be given, and fomentations applied, and principally on the 

 inside of the arm, close to the chest, and the horse should be kept as quiet as possible. 

 The injury is too deeply seated for external stimulants to have very great effect, yet a 

 blister will properly be resorted to, if the lameness is not speedily removed. The swim- 

 ming of the horse is an inhuman practice; it tortures the animal, and increases the 

 inflammation. The pegging of the shoulder (puncturing the skin, and blowing into 

 the cellular structure beneath until it is considerably pufl'ed up) is another relic of 

 ignorance and barbarity. 



SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 



The lessening or breaking of the shock, from the weight being thrown violently on 

 the fore le^s, is effected in another way. It will be observed, tliat (see G and J, p. 

 68) the shoulder-blade and the lower bone of tiie shoulder are not connected together 

 in a straight line, but form a very considerable angle with each other. This will be 

 more evident from the following cut, which represents the fore and hind extremities 

 in the situations which they occupy in the horse. 



This angular construction of the limbs reminds us of the similar arrangement of the 

 springs of a carriage, and the ease of motion, and almost perfect freedoai from jolting 

 which are thereby obtained. 



