\ 

 308 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



Here, also, neatness is a characteristic of quality and distinction, 

 which the thoroughbred horse presents in the highest degree. Com- 

 mon horses, like the draught-horse, have this region more or less 

 thick, and the hairs of the footlock almost cover its posterior face. It 

 is the custom to cut these hairs in the lighter variety of horses which 

 are somewhat lymphatic and lack in breeding, so as to make the mem- 

 bers appear more slender and render the form and outline of the 

 extremities more apparent. This procedure is not practised in heavy 

 horses, in which these hairs fulfil the rdle of protecting organs against 

 mud and dust. 



The neatness of outline of the pastern implies, as in the other 

 regions, the absence of diseases and blemishes. 



Diseases and Blemishes. Many diseases are observed upon the pastern 

 or extend there from other regions : such are contusions, excoriations, superficial 

 wounds of the skin, cuts, fissures, collosities, redema, abscess, grease, lymphangi- 

 tis, fibrous elephantiasis, etc. We will only mention them in passing. 



However, there are some diseases and blemishes whose seat is entirely 

 confined to the pastern. 



Let us cite first the effects of halter-cast, a transverse or oblique wound which 

 is occasioned in the fold of the pastern by the friction of too long a strap fasten- 

 ing the horse to the manger. This accident is produced when the animal, in 

 endeavoring to rub the mane with one of the posterior bipeds, or the pastern of 

 one of these with the teeth, carries the posterior member forward, which then 

 becomes entangled in the halter-strap. The latter, strongly tensed by the inverse 

 actions of the neck, which is straightened, and of the foot, which is carried 

 backward, moves to and fro over the skin, whence result more or less profound 

 wounds. 1 Sometimes the animal loses his equilibrium, falls down, and twists the 

 neck, which determines a permanent deviation of the latter. 2 Such a mishap 

 can also be produced under other circumstances, when, for example, the horse is 

 tied to a post, or to a cord with a fetter fixed to one of the anterior pasterns ; 

 when he is cast for the purpose of undergoing a surgical operation ; when he is 

 obliged to eat from the ground, and being in harness, accidentally entangles one 

 of the members in the reins, etc. The symptoms and the gravity of this accident 

 vary according to the qualities of the rubbing body, its hardness, the intensity 

 of the friction, and the nature of the lesions. We will not expatiate on these. 

 Let us merely say that a cicatrix follows these lesions, which, in most instances, 

 is permanent, and upon which the hairs are not replaced. At times, the cica- 

 tricial tissue is so abundant that the region remains permanently enlarged and 

 deformed ; the movement of flexion of the foot is rendered less easy and the skin 

 is much more sensitive to causes capable of irritating and excoriating it. 

 Finally, there are cases in which cicatrization never follows, and the wound con- 



1 H. Bouley, Nouveau dictionnaire de m^decine, de chirurgie et d'hygiene ve"te>inaires, t. v. 

 p. 662. 



2 This accident, caused by the struggles of the animal, often gives rise to wryneck or partial 

 luxation of the cervical vertebrae. 



