SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 229 



portion of Avbich is enlarnred, may be sound, while the other mav be shrnnk 

 from M'ant of equal exertion, arising- from injury of long- standing-. The 

 heat and tenderness, if there be any, will be found within the arm, close to 

 the chest ; and will belong- more to the muscles of the breast than to those 

 under the shoulder. 



The symptoms, however, of shoulder-lameness can scarcely be mistaken; 

 and, when we relate them, the farmer will recollect, that they very seldom 

 occurred when the village-smith pointed to the shoulder as the seat "of 

 disease, and punished the animal for no purpose. In sprain of the shoulder 

 the horse will evidently suffer extreme pain while moving, and the muscle 

 nnderneath being- inflamed and tender, he will extend it as little as possible. 

 He will drag his toe along the ground. It is in the lifting- of the foot that 

 the shoulder is principally moved : if the foot be lifted high, let the horse 

 be ever so lame, the shoulder is little, if at all affected. The lame limb is 

 suffered to bear the w^eight a much shorter time in this than in any other 

 kind of lameness. In sprain of the back sinews, it is only when the horse 

 is in motion that the injured parts are put to most pain; the pain is 

 greatest here when the weight rests on the limb, and, therefore, there is a 

 peculiar quickness in catching up the limb, in shoulder-lameness, the mo- 

 ment the weight is thrown on it. This is particularly evident when the 

 horse is going down hill, and the injured limb bears an additional portion 

 of the weight. In the stable, too, when the horse points or projects one 

 foot before the other, that foot is usually flat on the ground. Jn shoulder- 

 lameness the toe alone rests on the ground. The circumstance which 

 most of all characterizes this affection, is, that when the foot is Ufted, and 

 then brought considerably forward, the horse will express great pain, 

 which he will not do if the lameness be in the foot or the leg. We have 

 dwelt longer on this point, that our readers may be enabled to put to the 

 test the many cases of shoulder-lameness which exist only in the imagi- 

 nation of the groom or the fi-u-rier. 



In sprain of the internal muscles of the shoulder, few local measures can 

 be adopted. The horse should be bled from the vein on the inside of the 

 arm (the plate vein), because the blood is then abstracted more imme- 

 diately from the inflamed part. A dose of physic should be given, and 

 fomentations applied, and principally on the inside of the arm, close to 

 the chest; while the horse is kept as quiet as possible. The injury is too 

 deeply seated for external stimulants to have very great effect, jet a blister 

 will very properly be resorted to, if the lameness is not speedily removed. 

 The swimming of the horse is an inhuman practice; it tortures the animal, 

 and increases the inflammation. The jyf'gging of the shoulder (puncturing 

 the skin, and blowing into the cellular structure beneath, until it is cou- 

 siderably puffed up) is another relic of ignorance and barbarity. 



SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 



The lessening or breaking of the shock, from the weight being thrown 

 violently on the fore legs, is effected in another way. It will be observed, 

 that (see G and J, p. 63) the shoulder-blade and the lower bone of the 

 shoulder are not connected together in a straight line, but form a very con- 

 siderable angle with each otlier. This will be more evident from the fol- 

 lowing cut, which represents the fore and hind extremities in the situations 

 which they occupy in the horse. 



This angular construction of the limbs reminds us of the similar arrange- 

 ment of the springs of a carrit)ge, and the ease of motion, and almost per- 

 fect freedom Irom jolting, which are thereby obtained. 



