332 STABLE ECONOMY. 



General Stiffness usually accompanies emaciat\:)n. When 

 first taken from the stable, the horse seems to be stitf all 

 over ; he obtains greater freedom of motion after he is tolera- 

 bly well warmed by exertion ; but he never has great speed. 

 All old coaching horses are in this state, and all those, 

 whetlier young or old, who have a deal of hard work, soon 

 become more or less stiff. In racers and hunters, the extent 

 of stride is perceptibly contracted toward the close of their 

 working season. They are termed stale, and require some 

 repose, and green food or carrots, and sometimes a little 

 physic, to refresh them. 



The Lf^gs are often so ill formed, that they fail without any 

 excess of work. But fast paces, long journeys, and heavy 

 weights, ruin the very best. A single journey may produce 

 lameness; it may give the horse spavin or grogginess : or 

 some other lameness may be the result of one day's work. 

 But this is more than excess. The horse may have to per- 

 form it twice or thrice in his lifetime, but if it be such as to 

 make him lame, it is too much to form regular work. The 

 excess to which I allude does not produce lameness till after 

 the horse has done the journey several times in succession. 

 When two or three become lame, it is high time to make ar- 

 rangements for preventing more. The distance may be 

 shortened, the draught or weight lightened, or the place re- 

 tarded. 



The legs often show that the work is in excess, though the 

 horse may not be lame. The fore-legs suffer most, but the 

 hind are noi exempt. Where there is much up-hill work, or 

 much galloping, the hind fail as often as the fore. The pas- 

 terns become straight ; and, in extreme cases, the fetlock- 

 joint is bent forward ; this is termed knuckling over. At a 

 later period the knees bend forward. The whole leg is 

 crooked, deformed, tottering. Besides these the legs become 

 tumid, round, puffy. There is a general tumefaction, and the 

 legs are said to be gourdy, fleshy, or stale. The deformity 

 produces unsteadiness of action ; the limbs tremble after the 

 least exertion, and the horse is easily thrown to the ground. 

 The tumefaction produces a tendency to cracked heels and to 

 grease. 



Vejy often the back tendons suffer enlargement, which, in 

 some cases, depends entirely upon accumulation of the fluid 

 by which they are lubricated, not upon any enlargement of 

 the tendons themselves. The hock and fetlock joints are al- 

 ways large and puffy. These enlargements are termed wind 



