578 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



more speed. Certain conformations — that of the thoroughbred horse, 

 for example, or, again, certain methods of training at great speed — 

 seem to predispose to it. It is, on the contrary, much more rare in 

 draught-horses, which always raise their feet high during work (Fig. 



269). 



2d, Excessive Knee- Action. — This action, also called hic/h 

 knee-action, is especially marked in the trot, and more particularly in 

 German and Dutch horses. It is characterized by exaggerated flexion 

 of the canon and the forearm. It is far from constituting a beauty, as 

 many persons think, nor is it graceful either ; it is not in favor at 

 the present day. It is well known tliat this manner of progression 

 involves a loss of time and force which are prejudicial to both the 

 velocity of the gait and its duration. 



According to some authors, it is more common in horses with 

 arched necks and in those with angular (cow) hocks.^ 



We know of no means of remedying it. 



Let us remark, in passing, that blind horses imitate this action con- 

 siderably when they trot, endeavoring thus to avoid obstacles ; but in 

 this case the action is not identical, properly speaking, with the one 

 under consideration. 



3d. Immobilized or Pegged Shoulders. — When the shoul- 

 ders, although normal in appearance, seem to be restrained from acting 

 with entire freedom, and only shortened movements of the members 

 are allowed, they are said to be immobilized, cold, or pegged. 



These expressions are incorrect, for, as H. Bouley remarks,^ it is 

 less in the shoulder than in the inferior regions of the members that 

 the impediment resides. The animal, in most instances, suffers in the 

 feet, and shortens his steps to diminish the intensity of the percussion 

 against the ground. As a proof that this is so, the destruction of the 

 sensibilitv in the region of the surgical foot, by the operation of neu- 

 rotomy, will, in most instances, restore the natural mobility to the 

 shoulders. 



The iinmobilitij of the shoulders is not always an index of a lesion 

 of the members ; it may depend simply upon a want of energy, the 

 coldneaH and lymphatic type of the temperament, compatible sometimes 

 with the most perfect regularity of form. The pietare-horse of the 

 dealers, a model to offer to artists, is a case in point. With an irre- 



1 Similar to string-lialt, tliis action may be due to an excess of elastic fibres in the anti- 

 brachial aponeurosis and in the tendon which extends from the biceps muscle to the tendon 

 of tlie extensor of the metacarpus. (Ilarger.) 



- H. Bouley, Nouveau dictionnaire de m^decine, de chirurgie et d'hygiene v^terinaires, 

 t. vi. p. 155. 



