364 THE HORSE. 



Lameness, from whatever cause arising, is unsoundness. However 

 temporary it may be, or however obscure, it lessens the utility of the 

 horse, and renders him unsound for the time. How far his soundness 

 may be afterwards affected, must depend on the circumstances of the case. 

 A lame horse is for the time an unsound one. 



Neurotomy. — A question has arisen how far a horse that has under- 

 gone the operation of the division of the nerve of the leg (see page 110), 

 and has recovered from the lameness with which he was before affected, 

 and stands his work well, may be considered to be sound. In our opi- 

 nion there cannot be a doubt about the matter. Does the operation 

 of neurotomy render a horse as capable of M'ork as he was before he be- 

 came affected with the disease on account of which, and to relieve him 

 from the torture of which, the nerve was divided ? Is the operation of neu- 

 rotomy so invariably followed by capability, and continued capability of 

 ordinary and even extraordinary work, that they may regularly be considered 

 as cause and effect? The most strenuous defenders of the nerve operation 

 cannot affirm this. They can only say that they partially succeed in almost 

 every fair case, — that they perfectly succeed in the majority of cases ; but 

 they cannot deny that the horse will batter and bruise that foot, when he 

 has lost sensation in it, which should have been tenderly used ; that even 

 the hoof will sometimes be lost, after operations performed with the greatest 

 judgment ; that the lameness will sometimes return, after the animal 

 has gone sound, one, two, or three years; and that, after all, there is a little 

 unpleasantness, and even unsafeness in the action of the horse, from the 

 peculiar manner in which the foot meets the ground when its feeling is 

 destroyed ; and that the horse is more liable to accidents, for he will travel 

 on without warning his rider of the evil, after a piece of glass has pene- 

 trated his foot, or a stone has insinuated itself between the sole and the 

 shoe ; and thus irreparable mischief will be done, before the cause of it 

 can possibly be detected. A horse on whom this operation has been per- 

 formed may be improved — may cease to be lame, may go well for many 

 years ; but there is no certainty of his continuing to do so, and he is 

 unsound. 



Ossification of the lateral cartilages constitutes unsoundness, 

 as interfering with the natural expansion of the foot, and in horses of 

 quick work almost invariably producing lameness. 



Pumiced-foot. — When the union between the horny and sensible 

 lamellae, or little plates of the foot (see p. 291), is weakened, and the 

 coffin-bone is let down, and presses upon the sole, which yields to this 

 unnatural weight, and becomes rounded, and comes in contact with the 

 ground, and gets bruised and injured, that horse must be unsound, and 

 unsound for ever, because there are no means by which we can lift up 

 the coffin-bone again into its place. 



QuiDDiNG. — If the mastication of the food gives pain to the animal, in 

 consequence of soreness of the mouth or throat, he will drop it before 

 it is perfectly chewed. This, as an indication of disease, constitutes un- 

 soundness. Quidding sometimes arises from irregularity in the teeth, 

 which wound the cheek with their sharp edges ; or a protruding tooth 

 renders it impossible for the horse to close his jaws so as to chew his 

 food thoroughly. Quidding is unsoundness for the time ; but the un- 

 soundness will cease when the teeth are properly tiled, or the catarrh 

 relieved, or the cause of this imperfect chewing removed. 



Quittor is unsoundness. 



lliNG-BONE. — Although when the bony tumour is small, and on one side 

 only, there is little or no lameness, and there are a few instances in 



