82 



WOUNDS AND BRUISES. 



injury, will always be the one on the same side as the wounded 

 leg. From the foregoing considerations, we may see that when an 

 over-reach occurs, it will have been caused by the injured fore leg- 

 not having been lifted off the ground in time to make way for the 

 hind leg which followed it. Hence, this accident is usually brought 

 about by some mechanical impediment — such as that caused by 

 stepping on soft, irregular, or slippery ground — or by weakness or 

 inability on the part of the horse. 



Fii 



-Black well's iu(.lia-ruh!)er 



guard to prevent over-reaching 

 and l)rushiniT on the coronet. 



Preventive measures may be employed by regulating the move- 

 ments of the horse, or by adopting mechanical precautions. 



Under the first heading, our care, as a rule, should naturally be 

 to teach the horse to carry himself during movement, in such a way 

 that more or less of the weight on his forehand will be transferred 

 to his hind quarters; in other words, to "lighten" his forehand, 

 so as to make him readily lift his fore legs out of the way of the 

 hind ones. The methods to attain this end are described in " Illus- 

 trated Horsebreaking," and consist in making the animal rein- 

 back, circle, change his leg, and perform other school movements 



