8o DISEASES OF THE FEET, ETC. 



the part near the bone for a few days, and the horse 

 not moved out of his stall, the probability is that he 

 will get well ; I do not mean exactly sound, but he will 

 be well enough for ordinary purposes, and may last a long 

 while without even showing lameness, unless put to fast 

 work, and that would likely bring back a recurrence of 

 the disease. I recollect one case of the very best mare 

 that ever came under my notice ; she was thorough-bred, 

 and her racing name, I always understood, was Polly 

 Hopkins. She was lame from the same cause every year 

 for about three weeks, but after that was perfectly well 

 the remainder of the year ; that was so for fifteen years 

 that I owned and rode her, during all that time she was 

 never off her feet, and was always fit to run for a man's 

 life. Hagerstown, Maryland, in those days was a great 

 place for running horses, and if a young horse made ex- 

 traordinary promise, so great was the old mare's fame, 

 they would send him over to try a few jumps with her, 

 and invariably she beat all comers. At the same time I 

 owned a gelding by John Bascombe, and he was very fast, 

 but never could beat her (although he had the advantage 

 of weight). I always rode her at about one hundred and 

 fifty pounds, and he was ridden at one hundred and 

 twenty-five pounds ; but at the first jump or two she, the 

 old mare, managed to get nearly a length ahead, and her 

 staying powers were so extraordinary that he never could 

 make an inch on her. But she had this same disease 

 every year for fifteen years, and never lamed (only at the 

 time) ; she was shot, having broken her leg by a cast in 

 the stall. It was to her I adverted when speaking of 

 arranging a stall for preventing casts. For all this, I 

 would not advise any one to buy a sweenied horse, for as 

 a general rule they are not of much value, even for slow 

 work. In short, it depends upon how the strained part is 



