LAMENESS, FROM NARIOUS CAUSES. 325 
and, in order to relieve the feet, the horse spares the muscles, which, 
for want of free and full action, leads to diminished nvtri+ion and 
wasting (atrophy). Some of the readers of this work must have 
noticed the fact of the shrinking of the muscles of the haunch in 
case of disease or severe lameness of one of the hind feet. This 
shrinkage often occurs, as in the case of the shoulder, from want 
of natural action and full play of the muscles concerned. We 
have ample proof that wasting is the result of want of action, in 
the fact that when a horse becomes the subject of a painful disease 
in the hind foot, he neither advances nor rotates the limb any 
more than he can possibly help, but holds the foot up, sometimes 
points it. On examination, the atrophy, or wasting, is confined to 
the muscles which perform these two actions; and in the case of 
pain or lameness in one of the fore-feet, the same faulty action is 
observable, and the same class of muscles (whose action is almost 
identical with that of the hind parts) are the ones affected. 
The author deems it of great importance that husbandmen 
should fully understand this subject; for it will enable them to 
perceive that, while inflating horses’ shoulders with a quill, or 
practicing any other absurd treatment in the vicinity of the wasted 
or aweenied shoulder, they are overlooking the real malady (in 
the foot), and at best are only treating symptoms. On careful 
examination, however, should it appear that the patient is free 
from any disorder of the foot or feet, and, on the other hand, it is 
clearly evident that myositis or myalgia (muscular pain) exists, 
then the treatment must be directed to the affected parts. The 
facts in either case can only be determined by a competent practi 
tioner. 
The author has often noticed tnat when horses have been over 
drive s ov overworked, they become stiff and lame in those parts 
of the body most susceptible to the ordinary influences. For 
example, one horse may perform a long journey, with a weighty 
man on his back, and the next day show symptoms of lameness 
in the lumbar region. His back is arched ; the limbs are brought 
under the center of the body, and every movement indicates that 
the animal suffers tormenting pains, which are located in the mas- 
cles of the back. This is myositis, or inflammation of the muscular 
fiber. Sometimes, however, the malady constitutes myalgia (mus- 
cular pain and spasm), unaccompanied by inflammatory activn. 
Another horse may be put to a similar kind of work, and na 
