110 THE STUD. 



as ever ; the really broken-down sinew cannot. It 

 may be said that we see numbers of horses going 

 sound with fired fore legs, and that when fired 

 between the knee and fetlock, it has been generally 

 done in cases where the sinew^s have given way ; 

 nay, further, we hear that such or such a race- 

 horse broke down, and then see him come out the 

 next year and run as well as ever. This is all 

 true in a certain degree, but not wdiolly so. It is 

 quite true that horses are fired for relaxed sinews, 

 but not by a man of sense for a real broken-down 

 sinew, at least not with any hope of cure ; and 

 although race-horses are said, in technical terms, 

 to have broken down, they have not all done so : 

 those that have, do not race again, those that do 

 have not ; they have only materially injured the 

 part, and this by time and treatment is to be 

 rectified. 



A horse may from over, or too often repeated 

 exertion, exhibit legs perfectly frightful to look 

 upon ; he may also be as lame on those legs as 

 an animal can possibly be ; they may, to the 

 casual observer, even feel as if it was a thorough 

 and hopeless break-down, and still it may be no 

 real break- down at all; for the sinews may, in 

 point of strength, be perfect, and the great re- 

 laxation we may see, and iiiflanmiation we may 

 ascertain to exist, may be confined to the cover- 

 ing, and parts surrounding the tendon : this will 



