CAEE AND MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 781 



most common defective action is stumbling. The causes 

 in operation to produce this depend upon whether it is a 

 draught or riding horse, though there are causes common 

 to both classes. 



A riding horse stumbles when he gets tired, but this 

 obvious cause need not engage our attention. He may 

 stumble from defective action, the most common form of 

 which is an inability to carry the limb forward at a sufficient 

 height above the ground to clear all ordinary irregularities. 

 This inability may be due to natural clumsiness, or to 

 stiffness of the joints, especially the knee and fetlock, by 

 which the flexion is slightly reduced. A very slight loss 

 of flexion at knee or fetlock will produce an inveterate 

 stumbler. 



Saddle horses may also stumble from the mechanica. 

 interference produced by the saddle pressing on the blade 

 bones. A certain amount of freedom is required for the 

 scapula, and if saddles are so constructed as to limit this 

 freedom, it is impossible for the leg to be carried well and 

 smartly to the front (see p. 817). This cause of stumbling 

 among army horses was pointed out by us nearly twenty- 

 three years ago,* but does not appear yet to be generally 

 recognised. 



Horses stumble if their feet are too long; it is an 

 exceedingly common cause of falling, especially when an 

 animal is getting leg weary. If records are kept of all 

 broken knee cases brought for treatment, it is astonishing 

 how many occur either immediately following shoeing, or 

 when the animal has been allowed to go over its time and 

 requires shoeing. At first sight it seems strange that two 

 such opposite conditions should give rise to the same 

 results. Yet the matter is very easily explained. When 

 the animal has gone over its time for shoeing the toes are 

 long and liable to cause tripping ; when tripping results 

 after shoeing it is due to the new shoe not being worn 

 away at the toe and so catching in the ground. 



* Quarterly Journal of Vetermary Science in India, vol. i., 

 1882. 



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