474 SHOULDER STRAIN, MEANS OF [BOOK III. 



desirable to ascertain whether the accident has 

 taken place before this symptom becomes apparent. 

 Lameness immediately succeeding any or either 

 of those accidents; which may be distinguished 

 from a strain lower down by the animal's drawing 

 his toe along the ground, from inability in the part 

 to lift it off' the ground ; but when he throws out 

 the foot in a semicircle, described by the segment at 

 page 42, this shows that the hurt is chiefly confined 

 to the lower part of the shoulder near the elbow. 

 Taking up the foot, and bending the limb, will 

 further prove the existence of strain in the shoulder, 

 if the animal evince pain ; whereas, if it lie in the 

 foot, and not in the shoulder, the lame leg can be 

 moved as supple as the sound one. The difficulty 

 of ascertaining the real seat of lameness is some- 

 times so very great, being entirely invisible, that 

 the groom seldom hesitates to assert his belief that 

 the horse may be gammoning, or " shamming 

 Abraham : " this uncertainty has put us upon all 

 sorts of expedients to find out the real seat of the 

 disorder. For this purpose, hold up his head high, 

 and after comparing and finding no difference in the 

 shape of his two shoulders, let go the head, when 

 he will be observed to flinch upon bringing it to- 

 wards the affected side. Let a person rattle some 

 corn in a sieve at a distance behind, now on this 

 side, now on that, and he will be observed to evince 

 pain at turning the neck so as to strain the affected 

 side ; not so if the pain be in the foot, of course. 

 As the horse will step short, and also throw out his 



