ON LAMENESS FROM STRAINS. 267 



fully, and reflect deliberately, upon all the circumstances of the 

 case, and be well assured that he knows the seat and nature of 

 the lameness before he gives an opinion. Lameness may exist 

 in a great variety of degrees ; the shades, for so they may be 

 named, between soundness and positive lameness are so nume- 

 rous, that to give a name to each would be impossible, and, if 

 possible, unprofitable. The immediate cause of lameness, in 

 the majority of cases, is the effort of the animal to relieve the 

 lame leg by throwing his weight on the sound one, thus causino- 

 that unequal action called lameness. The serious loss and in- 

 convenience arising from lameness have excited particular atten- 

 tion to the subject ; and, though considerable improvement has 

 been made within a few years in the art of shoeing, as well as in 

 the treatment of lameness, it is a generally acknowledged fact, 

 I believe, that a large proportion of the lameness that occur will 

 only admit of palliation, and that a considerable number are 

 absolutely incurable, especially those in the feet. 



In alluding to the improvements in shoeing, I do not mean 

 to include that which has been introduced from France, except 

 as it regards the nailing of those shoes ; for as to the French 

 shoe, and its boasted ajusture, I think it the most absurd imagin- 

 able. That lameness is much more frequent in this country 

 than in France is a fact that must be aduiitted, and ought to be 

 deeply lamented, because it is an evil that may and ought to be 

 prevented. On what, then, it may be asked, does this parti- 

 cular frequency of lameness in this country depend? The 

 French say, on shoeing ; but it is not really so : on the contrary, 

 I am of opinion that the English shoeing, speaking generally, is 

 the best in the world. The frequency of lameness, so loudly 

 and justly complained of, arises wholly from the immoderate 

 and cruel manner In which the animal is worked, and the early 

 aire at which he is brou^rht into work. 



[^Strains, which prove a very frequent source of lameness in 

 the horse, may occur in muscles, in ligaments, and tendons, and 

 in the membranes by which tendons are joined together. A 

 strain consists in an overstretching of the injured part, whereby 

 inflammation is produced, and it becomes hot, tender, and fre- 

 quently swollen ; sometimes some of the small blood-vessels are 

 ruptured, and blood is extravasated ; at others a liquid is effused 

 by the vessels, and thus causes the swelling. The lameness is 

 produced not so much by the pain the animal receives when the 

 injured part comes to the ground, as by the effort to prevent 

 this pain as much as possible by treading lightly on the injured 

 limb and with greater force on the sound one. 



Strains of the muscles are generally more painful than those 

 of tendons and ligaments, from the greater organisation of the 

 parts ; but, for the same reason, they are generally more effec- 



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