THE HORSE. 59 



Windgalls — Ligamentary, or Strains in the Back 

 Sinews — Breaking Down — Strains in the Shoulder 

 — in the Loins and Couplings — in the Stifle Bone 

 — Hip, or Whirl Bone — the Hocks — Jardons, or 

 Capped Hocks — String Halt — Rheumatism. 



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Windgalls upon the legs and pasterns of the horse 

 appear, to the sight and touch, small bags or capsules. 

 These are filled with synovia, or oil strained from the 

 joints, which, it seems probable, forms itself into cap- 

 sules. Professor Coleman supposes these capsules to 

 be original and formed by nature. Mr. White denies 

 the existence of any such, and pronounces the mate- 

 rial to be unconfined. How then could those distinct 

 circumscribed tumours which we see and feel, exist 

 in such form? They are occasioned by hard work 

 upon the road, under which very few horses escape 

 them, inducing soreness in the joints, and ultimately, 

 lameness. Delicate, bloodlike horses are most sub- 

 ject to them. Strains in the back sinews are so com- 

 mon a case, as to need very little description. They 

 are in course, most frequent in the fore legs. There 

 is generally a pufnness and swelling along the tendon 

 or back sinew, as it is styled ; and in extreme cases, a 

 rlaccidity denoting the excess of extension which the 

 ligaments have sustained. Breaking down is the 

 final result of this injury, when the fetlock joint, on 

 which the horse rests, bears upon the ground. This 

 accident, the consequence of great stress upon the 

 parts in rapid motion, happens chiefly to race horses 

 and hunters. It results either from a rupture of cer- 



