28 CONFORMATION OF 



under surface of the knee should also be examined in pur- 

 chasing a horse ; when, if either an enlargement or a scar 

 appear, it arises from what is called the speedy cut, or blow 

 giv^en to the part by the foot of the opposite side when it is 

 elevated high in fast trotting horses. A sore scabby erup- 

 tion within the bend of the knee sometimes exists, particu- 

 larly in cart or other low bred fleshy-legged horses. These 

 eruptive appearances are called mallenders, and render the 

 horse objectionable, inasmuch as they prove frequently ob- 

 stinate against healing. 



The next part below the canon or shank is the past em. 

 Among horsemen, the articulation between the pastern and 

 shank is called the fetlock joint : but, properly speaking, 

 the fetlock is only the posterior part of the joint of the 

 pastern, from which grows the foot lock of hair. When 

 the pastern is very short and upright, the limb is deprived 

 of much of its elasticity, and such horses prove uneasy 

 movers : they are also unsafe, for the pastern being so 

 nearly in an upright position, requires but a small resistance, 

 or slight shock, to bring it forwards beyond the perpendi- 

 cular, in which case the weight of the machine, uniting with 

 the impetus, brings the animal down. Nor are these the 

 only attendant evils : this formation tends also to an early 

 deterioration of the parts ; for the ends of the bones being 

 opposed to each other in a more vertical direction, receive 

 such a jar or shock at each progressive movement, as 

 gradually deranges the part, producing an overshot joint, 

 absorption of the cartilages, and thickening of the liga- 

 ments. When, on the contrary, the pasterns are too long, 

 they are frequently too oblique likewise, and must then be 

 also proportionally weak ; though, from the increased elas- 

 ticity occasioned by this formation, such horses are com- 

 monly pleasant and easy in their paces ; and, by the exten- 

 sion given, they must also be more speedy, particularly in 

 the gallop. The soft swelling at the side of the canon, 

 called wind galls, need not here occupy any farther notice 

 than to remark, that although they bespeak undue exertion, 

 yet that, in themselves, unless they are so large as to prove 

 injurious by their pressure, they are not very important. 

 Cutting of the pastern joints, when dependent on a faulty 

 formation of the fore limbs, as when they naturally approxi- 



