336 LAMENESS. 
Other forms of suffering than those confined to the feet affect the pro- 
gression of the horse; the “whirl-bone” or hip-joint is sometimes visited 
by ulceration. The symptoms then in a degree resemble those exhibited 
when occult spavin is present; the affected limb is, however, after touch- 
ing the earth, caught up more sharply when the hip is diseased. The 
hoof, moreover, is presented more fully during motion in the last-men- 
tioned affection. The best method, however, to ascertain the existence 
of the ulceration, is to hold some soft 
substance over the joint, then to strike 
it with a mallet; the shock will be 
communicated to the seat of lameness, 
and elicit an energetic response. 
Nothing can be done for such a con- 
dition; certain barbarities are pro- 
posed as experiments by continental 
Fen ane ie ee nee tee veterinarians ; but man obviously has 
WITHIN THE HIP-JOINT. no right to run chances with cruelty 
practiced upon breathing life. Hip- 
joint disease is decidedly incurable, and renders every step a separate 
agony. 
The shoulder is a very favorite seat of injury with those who pretend 
to a knowledge of equine ailments; with such simple folk, if a horse be 
lame behind, the cause is always traced 
to the whirl-bone; should an animal 
have partially lost the use of an ante- 
rior limb, the injury is invariably found 
in the shoulder. The proof of their 
correctness is always exhibited in the 
lessened bulk of the parts referred to; 
 — : ‘ but throw a limb out of use, as lame- 
DE ea Coe crear aR enn ness in the horse always does, and the 
absorption of the whole extremity, 
from want of exercise, naturally ensues. 
The shoulder-joint is occasionally ulcerated; but more often disease 
is found upon the tendon of the flexor brachii, a muscle which, arising 
from the shoulder-joint, is of service in flexing the radius. In both cases 
the seeming length of the arm is remarkable; so also is the fixedness of 
the shoulder, and the obstinate refusal to advance or to flex the arm. 
The consequence is, that a horse with disease of the shoulder drags the 
limb, and never lifts the toe from the ground. 
Ulceration is sometimes, though rarely, witnessed within the elbow- 
joint; a case of this description is recorded by the late W. Percival. 
