DISEASES AND AILMENTS OF TIORSES, ETC. 1-jl 



paroil the outside of a pony's hoof instofid of tlio 

 inside, so as to make the animal stand slightly bow 

 or bandy-legged, the foot and shoo of the other 

 leg would not touch it, and a bad cutter he quite 

 cured. 



Broken Knees of a horse are, as their name Broken 



kiiccs 



indicate, the result of an accident or fall, and when 

 the knees are so badly broken as to allow the joint 

 oil, called the synovial oil in farriery, to escape, the 

 horse becomes imsound. Sometimes even when this 

 is not the case a horse cannot be said to be sound, 

 because the action of the knees become impeded 

 from the skin over the knees thickening. This, 

 however, only occurs when a horse has fallen 

 down very often, and, it may be said, that when 

 that frequently happens, the knee joints get 

 opened and the horse becomes radically unsound. 



Broken Down. — A horse is said to have broken Broken 

 down when it has suffered such a strain on the fined.' 

 sinews and tendons of the leg as to cause tem- 

 porary lameness and swelling of those parts. If 

 a horse has recently broken down the injury can- 

 not be concealed, because the part aifected becomes 

 very much swollen and inflamed ; but, by careful 

 fomenting, it is possible to reduce the swelling so 

 as to conceal it from an ordinary observer. A 

 broken down horse is decidedly unsound ; any en- 

 largement of the tendons must be a structui'al 



