362 
LAMENESS. 
often continue, much to our annoyance, if not to the defeat of our 
purpose. Another reason for the run being given immediately is, 
that any stiffness or indication of lameness the animal may hap- 
pen to manifest in his first movements, and which on occasions it 
is of so much consequence we should take cognizance of, may not 
through previous walking or jumping about be diminished or dis- 
sipated. Should the animal already have commenced his frolics, 
he may often be steadied down by being mounted ; indeed, there 
are some examiners who prefer having the horse under examina- 
tion for lameness ridden instead of being run in hand ; and on oc- 
casions the practice is a commendable one, the weight telling to 
the manifestation of the lameness : the objections to riding, in a 
general way, are, that the circumstance of being mounted has a 
tendency to raise the metal of a horse otherwise quiet, and so dis- 
pose him less to shew lameness ; and that the restriction his head 
is put under by the bridle-hand of the rider is apt to check or pre- 
vent his “ dropping ” to the extent he otherwise would. There 
are, however, lamenesses which require for their development that 
the limbs be thrown into sharp work, or be made to perform some 
extraordinary feats of trotting or galloping. In such cases as these 
it is imperative that the horse be either ridden or driven until he 
break out into a sweat, and afterwards he should be tied up in his 
stall and left at rest for an hour or so, until he has become quite 
cool, and then seen again in the trial trot : in this manner lame- 
ness, not discoverable through ordinary running, is often made 
manifest. 
III. The horse under examination for lameness should be run or 
ridden for the distance of thirty yards or so in a direct line from 
and back to the examiner. We have already seen that any ma- 
terial deviation from the way in which a horse — and in particular 
a young horse — has been accustomed to go is apt to create some 
difficulty or peculiarity in the gait that might be mistaken for 
lameness ; therefore the animal under examination should not, at 
all events in the first instance, be put out of his usual or natural 
mode of trotting. Should this trial fail upon ordinary ground to 
elicit lameness, trotting upon a surface of a different kind, upon 
hard ground or pavement, or upon soft ground into which the foot 
sinks under the weight of the tread, and making these transitions 
suddenly, may possibly cause the animal to divulge it. Or it 
may be requisite to essay what some forced or unaccustomed move- 
ment will do towards eliciting the secret ; though, while this ex- 
periment is making, care must be taken, as was said before, that 
any difficulty in the action created thereby is not mistaken for 
lameness. The retrograde movement or backing, the circular or 
