OBSERVATIONS ON INJURIES, ETC., AMONG ARMY HORSES. 163 
to be scorched and permanently emblazoned, than to be con- 
tinually, month after month, applying a cause which, more 
or less, is prejudicial to the healthy condition of the fore feet 
of every army horse. 
Of sprains there is nothing special to record ; they are, how- 
ever, of common occurrence amongst Horse Artillery troopers, 
resulting from the nature of the work the animals are called 
upon to perform. No horses are submitted to such severe tests 
as those of Horse Artillery batteries. The amount of labour 
expended in the manoeuvers of an ordinary field-day taxes 
their energies and physique. The effort in starting a gun, 
the sustained and rapid pace, the shock in coming to a sud- 
den halt, the strain in turning as well as in moving over un- 
even ground, the check in clearing irregularly shaped ruts or 
watercourses, at which we have seen many native cavalry 
refuse or fall — each and all of these must severely try the 
muscular power, the joints and tendons of a horse. The fetlock 
joints, as well as the joints below, of the fore limbs are very 
liable to sprain, whilst the fibro-ligamentous and tendinous 
structures at the posterior part of the legs from the knee down- 
wards are often strained or ruptured from the same causes. 
In March last a very unusual accident occurred to the 
“ ride horse of the wheel/** of a gun during the general's 
inspection of a battery of Horse Artillery. The troop was 
manoeuvering at a gallop, and had to cross at the same pace 
an irregularly shaped and somewhat deep watercourse on the 
parade ground. 
Here the horse slipped, or was checked by the sudden lurch 
of the limber when its wheels encountered the uneven ground, 
and nearly fell. His near hind leg was extended in a back- 
ward direction, with the foot lying on its front aspect and 
slightly inclined to the inner side ; its ground surface and the 
shoe looking upwards and backwards. Whilst in this position, 
the left wheel of the limber grasped the outer and lower edge 
of the shoe opposite the last nail hole, as well as the calkin. 
As the shoe gave way, the weight above it was transposed to 
the posterior quarter, heel and frog of the hoof, which now 
formed, as it were, a fixed point for the struggles of the horse 
to act upon. In the attempt in a forward direction which the 
horse made to recover himself and to liberate his foot from 
the backward and downward pressure of the wheel, the hoof 
was completely removed from its attachments, and almost as 
cleanly as though the organ had been macerated. The thin 
edge at the upper part of the hoof was intact, and the coro- 
* The “ ride horse of the wheel,” is the left or near horse ridden alongside 
the “ hand ” or right (shaft) horse of a gun. 
