SPRAINS OF TKNDONS, I.IGAMENTS AND MUSCLES. 28 r 



function it is to enable the horse to flex and extend his limbs; 

 under such conditions the evidence is rather of the negative order, 

 and much reliance must be placed upon the peculiar character of 

 the gait before the precise spot can be discovered, after which 

 forcible manipulation in the case of an injured muscle will fre- 

 quently cause the animal to reveal the seat of pain by flinching 

 and drawing away from the person so examining it. 



In proceeding to deal with the more general causes and seats of 

 lameness, we shall only be able to touch the fringe of the subject; 

 so much ground would have to be covered if it were dealt with 

 exhaustively, and a whole volume might be written on this one 

 division of our work; connnon ordinary causes of lameness will be 

 merely mentioned en passant, believing as we do that this will be 

 sufficient for all practical purposes to the majority of those who 

 will patronize this book; but with some of the more obscure 

 causes of lameness we shall attempt a fuller description in order 

 that our methods of treatment may be the better applied and more 

 satisfactory results be obtained. 



SPRAINS OF TENDONS, LIGAMENTS AND MUSCLES. 



The tendons and ligaments of both fore and hind limbs below 

 the knees and hocks are frequently the seats of injury, from slips, 

 either in the stable or out of it; from over-stretching produced by 

 some violent effort, such as starting a heavily- loaded cart or 

 wagon or jumping in the hunting field. A sprained ligament is 

 generally more troublesome to deal with than a tendon; we may 

 as well endeavor to explain the difference between tendons and 

 ligaments; broadly and generally speaking, a tendon is a strong, 

 thick and long piece of fibrous tissue attached at the upper end to 

 a muscle, while inferiorly it is attached to a bone; its function 

 being to enable a joint to be flexed or extended; a ligament is a 

 short piece of fibrous tissue of very firm structure though of less 

 substance and size than a tendon, which serves to keep the two 

 ends of long bones approximated together to form joints; around 

 each joint, of the limbs for instance, there are four or more liga- 

 ments: while both tendons and ligaments consist of what is 

 described by the anatomist as fibrous tissue, a microscopical ex- 

 amination of their respective structures reveals a difference in 

 their construction; but beyond the practical fact that the tendon. 



