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caused tbeir subdivision and classification into tliree varieties, with the 

 designations of high, middle, and loiv, though much can not be said as 

 to the importance of such distinction. It is true that the ringbone or 

 phaLangeal exostosis may be found at various i)oints on the coronet, in 

 one case forming a large bunch on the upper part and quite close to the 

 fetlock joint; then appearing on the very lower portion around the upper 

 border of the foot; seen again on the extreme front of the coronet; or 

 perhaps discovered on the very back of it. The shape in which they 

 commonly appear is favorable to their easy discovery, their form when 

 near the fetlock usually varying too much from the natural outlines of 

 the part when compared with those of the opposite side to admit of 

 error in the matter. 



A ringbone when in front of the coronet, even when not very largely 

 developed, assumes the form of a diffused convex swelling. If situated 

 on the lower part, it will form a thick ring, encircling the upper porlion 

 of the foot ; when found on the posterior part, a small, sharp osseous 

 growth somewhat projecting, sometimes on the inside and sometimes 

 on the outside of the coronet, may comprise the entire manifestation. 



As with splints, ringbones may result from severe labor in early life, 

 before the process of ossification has been fully perfected ; or they may 

 be referred to bruises, blows, sprains, or other violence; or injuries of 

 tendons, ligaments, or joints may be among the accountable accidents. 

 It is certain that they may commonly be traced to diseases and trau- 

 matic lesions of the foot, and their appearance may be reasonably an- 

 ticipated among the sequelae of an abscess of the coronet ; or the cause 

 maybe a severe contusion resulting from calking, or a deep punctured 

 wound from picking up a nail or stepping upon any hard object of suffi- 

 ciently irregular form to penetrate the sole. 



Moreover, a ringbone may claim to possess the character of a legacy — 

 it may originate in heredity. This is a fact of no little importance in its 

 relation to questions connected with the extensive interests of the stock 

 breeder and purchaser. To regard a liability to transmit constitutional 

 idiosyncrasies by common propagation as a disease or a diathesis would 

 be obviously uuphilosophical ; but to recognize the fact, in view of ex- 

 isting evidences, in connection with the affection we are considering, is 

 but to render its due to the claims of honest conviction and such, a 

 conviction we do not hesitate to own. That it is an active tendency 

 in respect to diseases generally it would be absurd to claim. But 

 we do claim that a disposition to contract this particular form of 

 lesion may be transmitted from parent to offspring, though in most 

 cases only with sufficient vigor to impress a predispositi<ni on the 

 part of the latter. Yet in a smaller proportion of cases it may, in point 

 of fact, constitute a force sufficient to act as a secondary cause of de- 

 veloped disease, which may in due time become a visible ringbone. 



The importance of this point when considered in reference to the 

 policy which should be observed in the selection of breeding stock, is 



