59^ Ox\' LAMENESS. 



draw up his four legs with pullies ; the dif- 

 placed joint ought then to be ext nded, with 

 all pofiible tendernefs and care, duly replaced,- 

 and bound. 



The general caufe of thofe frequent ftrains 

 in the back fmews, to which horfes in England 

 are peculiarly liable, is our cuftom of hard 

 riding ; but the extent of the mifchief may be 

 confiderably reduced, by the improved method 

 of fhoeing, which redo res to the Jlexor tendons, 

 or main finews, the intire frog, intended by 

 nature as their cufhion and fupport. I have, 

 however, put the cafe fomewhat too ftrongly, in 

 my attempted illuftration, Vol. I. p. 350, fmce, 

 even when the frog does not touch the ground, 

 it is ftill a partial fupport to the tendon, al- 

 though not fo firm an one, as if it occafionally 

 touched, or refted on the ground. An idea has 

 , of late years been propagated, that the cjiief ufe 

 of the frog is by no means the fupport of the 

 tendon, but rather as a medium of expanfion to 

 the hoof; a moft inconfequential theory, in 

 every point of view. That, from its pofition, 

 the frog mufl: ferve both purpofes, is equally 

 true and obvious ; neverthelefs, its chief func- 

 tion feems to be precifely that which was ori- 

 ginally affigned to it by La FoJ/e. In the 

 meantime, no one has denied that the Jlexor 

 tendon has other fupports, of which, in truth, 

 nobody could be ignorant, who had either 



viewed. 



