548 NERVOUS DISEASES. 



Stringhalt. 



This is a symptom of disease or injury, and is characterised by 

 the hock being more energetically flexed (bent) than it is extended 

 during movement. In mild cases, this want of co-ordination may 

 be noticed only when the animal begins to move, or from time to 

 lime as he progresses. It is sometimes intermittent, as, for in- 

 stance, it may be present one day, and absent, after that, for one, 

 two, or three days. In bad cases, it may be seen at every step 

 he takes. It is almost always confined to the hind legs, and 

 occasionally affects both of them. In nearly every case it gets 

 worse with age, and becomes aggravated by hard work and injury. 

 Twenty years ago, it was comparatively common among Edinburgh 

 cart-horses, the extensor muscles of whose hind legs had to perform 

 very severe work, when ascending the steep inclines that are in 

 that city. 



Many theories have been put forward as to the cause of string- 

 halt, which is generally regarded in this country as a nervous 

 disease. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that a leg 

 which is affected with stringhalt is almost always in an abnormally 

 high state of sensibility. Whatever the cause, the fact remains 

 that the diminution of the muscular power which bends the hock, 

 as a. rule reduces the defective action, and renders it normal in 

 many cases. Witli this object, one of the muscles which helps to 

 bend the hock (the peroneus) is thrown out of action, by removing 

 a portion of its tendon. If the tendon was simply divided, it might 

 reunite later on. This operation is performed on the outside of 

 the leg and just below the hook. . It should, of course, be done 

 under antiseptic precautions (p. 70). 



Slight cases of stringhalt are more readily seen in the box or 

 stall, on turning the animal round to one side and then to the 

 other, than when he is taken outside. 



TREATMENT is generally of very little use, except, perhaps, 

 in mitigation, when the affection has been made worse by over- 

 exertion or injury, in which case, rest, physic, and warm fomenta- 

 tions might be employed. Slings would be of special use, in 

 order to give rest, if the animal was not inclined to lie down. 



LEGAL ASPECT. — ^Stringhalt is an unsoundness (Thompson v. 

 Patteson, Oliphant's " Law of Horseg "), on account of its always 



