112 DISEASES OF THE HORSE’S FOOT 
lame, blundering, and unsafe, both were sound, free in 
movement, and secure, and, the pain being abolished, they 
looked improved in condition. 
‘During the month of July the regiment attended the 
summer drills at Aldershot, and five days every week for a 
month these horses carried a weight of about 22 stones 
each over the roughest and most dangerous ground, nearly 
always at a fast pace, and for four, five, or six hours each 
day ; and yet they never fell or blundered, and the troopers 
who rode them had unbounded confidence in their sure- 
footedness. They returned to Windsor, at the end of the 
month’s severe test, as sound in their paces as when they 
left, and certainly now offer no indication whatever that 
they are less safe to ride than any other horse in the regi- 
ment. The effects of the relief from pain are also most 
marked, not only in the altered gait out of doors, but also 
in the stable.’* 
‘Some years ago I operated upon a valuable hunter, 
the property of a gentleman in Kildare, the animal having 
shown unmistakable symptoms of navicular disease for 
some months previously, and which had been unsuccess- 
fully combated by the milder forms of treatment for the 
disease without any benefit. Although the horse went 
sound, the owner feared to ride him, and sent him to be 
sold in Dublin, where he was disposed of for a small price, 
and I then lost sight of him. The following Punchestown 
Races, to my surprise, amongst a group of horses walking 
round the paddock previous to saddling for an important 
race, I recognised my old patient, bandaged, clothed, and 
trained, ready to take his part in the cross-country contest, 
and surrounded by a host of admirers willing to back him 
at any price. 
‘Having satisfied myself that it was no other than the 
same animal, my first impulse was at once to find out the 
jockey who was to ride him, and warn him of his danger 
by telling him his mount was devoid of feeling in both fore- 
feet; but the saddling-bell had already rung, and in a few 
* Veterinary Journal, vol. ix., p.178 (George Fleming, F.R.C.V-S.). 
