770 VETERINAEY HYGIENE 



tractility and elasticity. Neither ligament nor tendon are 

 elastic; when muscles tire they lose their elasticity, and 

 the strain they should take is thrown on the tendons and 

 ligaments ; these yield to the strain either by bundles of 

 fibres giving way, or the greater part of one or more 

 tendons rupturing. In spite of the difference in their 

 physical characters, muscles are stronger than tendons ; 

 a ruptured muscle is rare, a ruptured tendon common. 



It is evident that sprains do not occur at the walk, rarely 

 if ever at the trot, seldom at the canter, nearly always at 

 the gallop. The reason of this is explained by what we 

 know of equine locomotion, it is only in the canter and 

 gallop that a single fore leg is called upon to propel the 

 body ; in the case of the gallop it is capable of propelling it 

 over twenty feet, in the canter the propulsion is about half 

 that amount, and, further, owing to the slowness of the 

 pace the horse can easily change the leadmg leg when its 

 fellow gets tired. At this point we may conveniently note 

 that all horses intended for riding purposes should be 

 taught and encouraged to change the leading leg in the 

 canter, and if possible in the gallop, as a safeguard against 

 sprains. It is a lesson that requires to be taught early in 

 life, for horses, like human beings, have a preference in the 

 limb they employ. 



We have said a horse may be in condition and yet 

 suffer from sprain, but in such a case it is invariably the 

 result of muscular fatigue, the result of the pace being too 

 fast or the weight too much. 



The importance of conditioning horses which from any 

 cause have been thrown out of work, is now seen to be of 

 the utmost hygienic advantage, but before concluding this 

 subject it is well to look at the next great cause of inefficiency 

 from want of condition, viz., laminitis. 



The laminffi of the feet are as capable of loss or gain 

 of condition as the ordinary skeletal muscles. When the 

 muscles of the body are flabby, wanting in tone, and easily 

 fatigued, the laminae of the feet are in a similar condition ; 

 the result is that laminitis frequently supervenes when 



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