272 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



must of course be liable to very severe injuries, and these in- 

 juries, it is to be regretted, are often incurable; that is, con- 

 sidered as saddle horses ; but as draught horses, they may be 

 sufficiently restored for slow and moderate labour. 



Strain of the Flexor Tendons, or Back Sineivs. 



[This injury is of frequent occurrence, and being often neg- 

 lected in its early stages, an enlargement of the tendons takes 

 place, which greatly depx'cciates the value of the animal. This 

 being the case, the injury, whether trivial or severe, should never 

 be thought lightly of, but always submitted to treatment. 



The Symptoms are in a severe case, lameness and heat, and 

 swelling of the affected part ; on pressing the sinews consider- 

 able pain is evinced. Sometimes the fetlock almost touches 

 the ground from relaxation of the sinews or their connections. 



don fiistened bj a lijjament to the out- 

 side of the knee. F. The cannon or 

 shank bone. G. The splent bone, which 

 is phiced on each side, rather poste- 

 riorly, of the sliunk-bone, beginning im- 

 mediately under the knee, and extend- 

 ing tapering downward, and terminat- 

 ing at fig. 1. in a sort of bulb. H. The 

 back sinews and their great suspensory 

 ligament, apparently, joined together. 

 This, however, is not ihe case ; it in- 

 corporates only with the perforans ten- 

 don, marked fig. 2.; and so intimately, 

 that they form one and the same sub- 

 stance, at the part marked by the 

 small letter i. The perforatns, marked 

 fig. 3., forms a sheath for the perforans, 

 as already described in the article 

 Strains. 4. The knee-joint. 5. The 

 fetlock-joint. 



This plate shows also a branch 

 of nerve which crosses over the back 

 sinew, to join the nerve on the opposite 

 side. It must be observed, however, 

 that the nerve is represented crossing 

 in too perpendicular a direction, and 

 joining tiie great nerve on the outside 

 of the leg a little too high. The dis- 

 tance between the part on the inside 

 nerve, where the branch is given off, 

 and the part on the outside nerve, 

 where it communicates, is about two 

 inches, or within two inches and a half, 

 for it varies a little in this respect. The 

 plate may, without this explanation, lead the reader into an error. 



