RING-BONE AND SIDE-BONE. 277 



enveloping ligament. Slight curbs clo not neces- 

 sarily cause lameness, but, as a rule, all curbs do 

 so more or less. The firing-iron is the only per- 

 manent cure. Blistering may reduce them and 

 help to strengthen the hocks, but the effect is not 

 equal to that of firing. Horses with overbent and 

 weak hocks are most subject to them. In Ireland 

 it is a common practice to fire young horses whose 

 hocks are at all faulty, whether they are sound or 

 not, merely as a preventive. It may be a wise 

 thing to do, but it always seems to me very much 

 like pulling out a sound tooth for fear it should 

 decay. 



Ring-bone is a deposit of bony matter on the 

 cartilage surrounding the coronet. The formation 

 is the result of concussion, and is attended with 

 considerable heat and lameness. When taken in 

 the early stage, blistering may cure it, but, as a 

 rule, firing is necessary. Good shoeing and light 

 shoes will help to prevent its recurrence. 



As I observed in the chapter on shoeing, side- 

 bone is the ossification of the cartilage attached 

 to the winces of the coffin-bone. Horses with 

 short, stumpy pasterns are more liable to side- 

 bones than those with longer and more springy 

 pasterns. Side-bones do not cause lameness as a 

 rule, but the elasticity of a horse's action — the 



