580 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



reason why the former should be the point of origin of the abnormal 

 movement of the member ?" 



These remarks are not without reason and foundation, for the 

 lesions of string-halt are not always located in the tibio- tarsal articula- 

 tion. Tiie facts which we will cite furnish evidence of this, and will 

 also serve to direct investigators in their researches u])on this subject. 



1st. Rigot attributes the abrupt movements of perfect ginglymoid (hinge) 

 articulations to the ulcerated lines which their articular surfaces present. Accord- 

 ing to him, alterations of this nature are found in the humero-radial articulation 

 when the horse is siring-haltij in front, and in the tibio-tarsal when he is affected 

 in the hind-\'m\h} 



2d. Pastureau, veterinarian at Esclates (Lot-et-Garonne), has advanced the 

 opinion, without any proof to support it, that string-halt is due to the accidental 

 fastening or catching of the internal femoro-patellar ligament upon the superior 

 extremity of the femoral trochlea.^ 



3d. M. Watrin, ex-army veterinarian, thinks, on the contrary, that it is 

 produced by the complementary tibro-cartilages of the third phalanx, which, 

 slightly modified in their structure and relations, press against the second pha- 

 lanx (coronary bone) at the time of the raising of the member. 



This hypothesis, revived by Messrs. Chenier and Weber, has induced M. E. 

 Bizard to employ anaesthetic injections in the fold of the pastern to relieve the 

 pain which horses affected with string-halt seem to experience. These injections 

 have given negative results.' 



4th. M. Orillard, veterinarian of Chatellerault, has also published several 

 interesting facts. According to his views, the action of string-halt is due to mus- 

 cular laceration in the posterior part of the tibial region and of the thigh, or to 

 a partial rupture of the tendons and aponeuroses of the cord of the hock.'' 



Concerning our opinion, we will say that, like Rigot, we have seen horses 

 which were string-halfy in the anterior members, and which have presented at the 

 autopsy ulcerated fissures of the humero-radial articulation ; these subjects are, 

 however, extremely rare. 



As to those which are affected behind, they have shown very diverse lesions : 

 sometimes they existed only in the femoro-tibial articulation, in the form of 

 ulcerations, foreign bodies, simple or rheumatoid arthritis ; sometimes they exist, 

 with almost the same characters, in the femoro-patellar articulation only ; some- 

 times in the tibio-astragaloid joint exclusively ; at other times we have found all 

 the articulations in the posterior member diseased except the coxo-femoral ; 

 finally, there were instances in which nothing abnormal could be perceived, no 

 more in the bones and the cartilages than in the muscles, the tendons, the apo- 

 neuroses, the synovial membranes, the vessels, and the nerves.* 



1 Rigot, Traits complet de Tanatomie des principaux animaux domestiques. (Syndesmolo- 

 gie, p. 94.) 



2 Pastureau, Journal des v6t6rinaires du Midi, annee 1849, p. 871 : Quelques reflexions sur 

 rCparviii et la crampe. 



3 Bulletin de la Society centrale de mMecine v6t6rinaire, s6ance du 25 Fdvrier, 1882, in 

 Recueil de medecine vet6rinaire, annee 1882, p. 373. 



■• Orillard, Quelques renseixncments sur la nature et I'Stiologie de I'^parvin see, in 

 Archives v^t^rinaires, 6e ann6e, 1881, p. 161. 



* Arm. Goubaux, Comptes-Rendus de la Soci6t6 de biologie, anntie 1853, pp. 19 et 92. 



