HEREDITARY UNSOUNDNESS 15 



sound throughout his long life, but certainly ten 

 per cent, of his progeny developed moonbhnd- 

 ness. 



The tendency to string-halt is undoubtedly 

 transmissible from parent to offspring. Horses 

 with snappy hock action are most hkely to de- 

 velop it. Nowadays it is not feared nearly so 

 much as it was formerly, for if it should develop, 

 a very large percentage of cases are curable by a 

 not very difficult and by no means dangerous 

 operation, which consists in the cutting of a ten- 

 don. A change has taken place in the generally 

 accepted view as to the nature of string-halt. It 

 was considered a purely nervous malady until it 

 was found that the cutting of a tendon would in 

 many instances cure it. 



Curb, although not, as I remember it, included 

 in the list of hereditary unsoundnesses, is decided- 

 ly hereditary, as well as the predisposition to it. 

 It is not an infrequent occurrence to find foals 

 "dropped" with curbs which frequently disap- 

 pear in a large measure. But there is always 

 some trace of them remaining. It is the rarest 

 possible occurrence to find a broad hock, and one 

 with the tendon standing well out behind, with 

 any sign of curb. Narrow hocks and those with 

 the point dipped forward towards the body of 

 the joint; a leg with small circumference imme- 

 diately below the hock, or what is commonly 



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