AS TO SOUNDNESS. 39 
So few horses are quite sound that there must be qualify- 
ing matter in many pass certificates, and this may be of 
so formidable a character from its length as utterly to 
drown the few words in which an opinion is offered. But 
of this I shall say more further on. Lastly, with regard 
to broken knees, you have the intermediate cases to 
decide upon, and you will find it a good rule.to reject as 
unsound all cases in which you find distinct evidence 
of injury which has failed to become entirely obliterated 
in six months. This I do without any qualification 
whatever, irrespective of form and action, for both are 
it 1s 
’ 
of little moment when the horse gets “leg tired ;’ 
then that the weakness left after a severe dlow shows 
itself. 
Enlargements about the knee are sometimes of no 
importance. We not unfrequently find enlargements, just 
above the joint, of the hard tissues, caused by leaping 
over timber and stone walls, which are of no importance 
physically if they do not prevent the perfect flexion of 
the joint, tested by lifting the foot and causing the pad 
of fetlock to touch the elbow. There are other enlarge- 
ments, called ganglions, which appear about the knees and 
hocks, generally in front of the former and at the sides 
of the latter. Sometimes these are of considerable size, 
and are, either from their size or from their causing im- 
paired mobility of a joint, unsoundnesses. They do not 
seem to arise from inflammation, but rather to be of 
the nature of simple cysts. They are slightly movable, 
indolent, and painless, and appear to be situated in the 
