112 HOW TO BUY A HORSE. 



they are of little consequence. In fact, if a horse be not 

 lame of them, they are of less importance than is gene- 

 rally considered to be the case. They will generally yield 

 to blistering and acupuncturing. Still, a splenty horse is, 

 coeteris paribus^ to be avoided ; rather, however, in our opin- 

 ion, because it shows a tendency to form bony excres- 

 cences, than from the actual evil that they do. 



Damaged Back Sinews arise from the giving way of 

 those most important motors, in consequence of wrench, 

 or strain, or over-exertion. However momentarily cured, 

 or relieved, a horse whose back sinews have once yielded, 

 is never again to be depended upon. These sinews run 

 down the back of the leg, immediately in the rear of the 

 canon bone, from the hock to the fetlock, and in their 

 proper condition, should be as round, as tense and as firm 

 as a harp-string, and connected to the bone by a sheath 

 of firm yet elastic ligaments. The state of these is ascer- 

 tained by grasping the leg, from before backward, and 

 running the hand downward from the knee to the fetlock, 

 with the nails of the thumb and middle finger in the 

 groove formed by the connection of the canon bone and 

 sinew. If the sheath be even, free from loose cells or 

 flexures, and if the sinew be firm, round, straight and 

 cord-like, all is right. But if it be in places detached par- 

 tially from the bone, flexed inward or outward, or if it 

 feel spongy or knotty, it is certain that something lins 

 gone wrong, and will, or at least may, be wrong again. 

 If pinched at the places where the flexures, detachments, 

 sponginess or knottiness occur, the horse will often evince 

 pain and wince manifestly from the pressure. Damaged 

 back sinews, if they do not produce present lameness, do 

 not constitute unsoundness, but they do constitute a 

 serious blemish, and are, in our judgment, an all-sufficient 

 obstacle to purchasing. 



