112 DISEASES OF THE HORSE'S FOOT 



lame, blundering, and unsafe, both were sound, free in 

 movement, and secure, and, the pain being abolished, they 

 looked improved in condition. 



' During the month of July the regiment attended the 

 summer drills at Aldershot, and five days every week for a 

 month these horses carried a weight of about 22 stones 

 each over the roughest and most dangerous ground, nearly 

 always at a fast pace, and for four, five, or six hours each 

 day ; and yet they never fell or blundered, and the troopers 

 who rode them had unbounded contidence in their sure- 

 footedness. They returned to Windsor, at the end of the 

 month's severe test, as sound in their paces as when they 

 left, and certainly now offer no indication whatever that 

 they are less safe to ride than any other horse in the regi- 

 ment. The effects of the relief from pain are also most 

 marked, not only in the altered gait out of doors, but also 

 in the stable.'* 



2. ' Some years ago I operated upon a valuable hunter, 

 the property of a gentleman in Kildare, the animal having 

 shown unmistakable symptoms of navicular disease for 

 some months previously, and which had been unsuccess- 

 fully combated by the milder forms of treatment for the 

 disease without any benefit. Although the horse went 

 sound, the owner feared to ride him, and sent him to be 

 sold in Dublin, where he was disposed of for a small price, 

 and I then lost sight of him. The following Punchestown 

 Races, to my surprise, amongst a group of horses walking 

 round the paddock previous to saddling for an important 

 race, I recognised my old patient, bandaged, clothed, and 

 trained, ready to take his part in the cross-country contest, 

 and surrounded by a host of admirers willing to back him 

 at any price. 



* Having satisfied myself that it was no other than the 

 same animal, my first impulse was at once to find out the 

 jockey who was to ride him, and warn him of his danger 

 by telling him his mount was devoid of feeling in both fore- 

 feet ; but the saddling-bell had already rung, and in a few 

 * Veterinary Jonrnal,yol. ix., p. 178 (George Fleming, F.R.C.V.S.). 



