294 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
Mr. Norris —When ? 
Witness —I can’t say—it was some when. 
Mr. Norris —But I want to know. 
Witness— Then I can’t tell you. (Laughter.) 
Mr. Norris —Do you consider that exercise is a good thing to cure a 
lame horse. 
Witness —I thought a little exercise would do her more good than 
standing still. After she was a little warm the lameness went off. Mr. 
Hussey didn’t want me to draw his attention to the lameness ; he could 
see it himself. 1 told Mr. Coleman of the lameness in Mr. Hussey’s 
stable, where he was attending another horse, and he then replied that 
she had good legs. I said she was always pointing, and that the off 
fore leg was never so fine as the other. I asked him what that was 
between the hoof and hair, and he replied “ Enlargement of the bone.” 
James Ackhurst, coachman to Mrs. Hussey, said he saw the mare 
pointing the off fore foot—that was after the Castle-street affair. As 
he had nothing to do with Mr. Hussey’s horses he did not interfere. 
Owen Perman , blacksmith, said he saw the mare in question when he 
happened to be at Mr. Hussey’s shoeing. Mr. Coleman was there at 
the time. Witness looked at the mare’s feet and said he didn’t half like 
them. She was very low and weak at the heel, and one foot was smaller 
than the other. He asked Mr. Coleman who had shod her, and he said 
it had been done by a country smith. Mr. Coleman said if the shoes 
were made a little wider in the cover, and rather thicker at the heel, 
she would go better. Witness observed that she stepped very short on 
the off fore leg. When he shod her he found that she had ring bone. 
There was a good deal of heat. He considered the foot diseased, and 
from his experience he believed the disease to have been of long standing. 
Cross-examined—There was a carriage horse ill at the time of the 
conversation, and Mr. Coleman was attending it. Witness took up the 
mare’s feet, and showed them to him. 
Mr. Norris said he should be able to prove that Mr. Coleman was 
not at Mr. Hussey’s until after the Castle-street affair. 
Re-examined : He never shod the mare before. Mr. Hussey had 
his horses shod once a fortnight or three weeks, according to the wear. 
Mr. J. C. Truckle —l am a member of the Royal College of Veteri¬ 
nary Surgeons. I was called in on the 15th of January to see a bay 
mare at Mr. Hussey’s stables. She was shown to me by Hewitt. The 
first thing that struck me was pointing of the off fore foot. I had her 
turned round, and put my hand down her legs to examine her. I then 
detected ossification of the lateral cartilage on the outside of the off 
fore foot. By unprofessional men this would be called ring bone, or 
side bone. On trotting her out into the yard, I found that she was lame 
on both fore feet, particularly the off one. When a horse is lame 
in both feet, the lameness is not so easily detected. I have seen a 
great many cases of ring bone. I think hackneys, which are always 
ridden on hard roads, are most liable to it. Ossification generally takes 
place where the cartilage is attached to the bone—that is inside the 
hoof, out of sight. It is in the majority of cases a slow process. 
Mr. Swuyne —Looking at this enlargement, do you think it could have 
come to such a size in two or three months ? 
Mr. Truckle —I think not. 1 examined the mare again, in company 
with Mr. Aubrey, on the 21st of January. I then made a more careful 
examination. She was pointing still—particularly the off fore foot. I 
had her outside, and measured her feet in the best way I could, with my 
eye and finger. The off foot was considerably contracted, the result. 
