ON THE NAVICUIAR DISEASE. 23 



With regard to its short Hgaments, it must be re- 

 membered that it is never required to descend, ex- 

 cept in connexion with the small pastern and coffin 

 bones ; and, therefore, even viewed as a process of 

 the coffin bone, the shortness of the hgaments is in 

 favour of its descent. 



As to the binding appearance of the expanded 

 part of the jflexor tendon, this does not, in reahty, 

 impede its descent, because, at the instant the na- 

 vicular bone descends under the weight received 

 from the small pastern, the fibres of the flexor per- 

 forans muscle are relaxed, and consequently the 

 muscle and tendon are elongated. 



I wish it particularly to be understood, that I as- Great freedom 



. ^ P 1 p -• • ^1 • 1 of motion in the 



cribe this great ireedom or action in the naviculamavicuiar joint 



1 • 1 I observable in 



bone only to very sound and good-actioned horses ; clever hackuies 

 and, to use a horseman's phraseology, the choice- 

 gifted hackney, which is said to put his heel down 

 as freely as his toe. Riding men know — what the 

 driving men are not aware of — that it is this sort 

 only which is lit to ride. 



Now, let us suppose a narrow-heeled horse (one 

 whose feet are somewhat contracted, or suspicious 

 as they are frequently called, but yet known always 

 to have been free from lameness) to be loose in a 

 large box, except during his two or three hours' 

 daily work, which we will say shall average from six 

 to ten miles an hour ; let such a horse have, in addi- 

 tion to the indulgence of a well-strawed loose box, — 

 first, a groom who will periodically use the stopping 



