36 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. 



sore shins as Mr. Copperthwaite asserts ; nor indeed did I 

 ever hear of such an occurrence as he relates before, nor do I 

 now believe in the phenomenon. Can one suppose, for a 

 moment, that the trainer, or in his absence the head-lad, 

 would not see if a horse went short in his exercise, and would 

 not seek for the cause by a careful examination of his feet 

 and legs ? Moreover, the legs are felt by the trainer, in the 

 ordinary way, twice a day, and rubbed oftener by the boy. 

 Could all this be done, it may be asked, and the excruciating 

 soreness escape detection, and the " trainer never dream " of 

 the cause of the total ruin of his best horses ; watching them, 

 thus deteriorate before his eyes, with supreme indifference } 

 I venture to think not ; but rather, that Mr. Copperthwaite 

 has been mistaken in his opinion, as I shall have on a later 

 occasion to show how greatly he has erred in other matters 

 connected with this and kindred subjects treated in the same 

 work. But it is a work more on breeding than on training, 

 and little is said in it on condition, and that little too much, 

 either for the sake of the writer's reputation, or his readers' 

 patience, so far as I am able to judge. 



Two other injuries which a horse is liable to, arise from work 

 — swollen joints, which sometimes are of no consequence ; and 

 rupture of the middle and main tendons, often attended with 

 fatal results. Rest and blistering are the two remedies, 

 although I confess that, as a rule, I have little faith in either. 

 When joints are swollen on the outside they become callous 

 and do not hurt ; but enlargement on the inside of either 

 fore-leg is generally fatal. Ringbone requires firing, splints 

 seldom hurt, and yield to the application of biniodide of 

 mercury or puncturing, and curbs to bhstering : or in bad 

 cases to the actual cautery. The bog-spavin mercurial 

 ointment will usually cure, and the bone-spavin yields to 



