OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
207 
Most of the diseases likely to meet the eye of an examiner 
as to soundness have been remarked upon, in a somewhat 
cursory manner it must be confessed, yet sufficient has been 
said to direct the attention of those more competent to treat 
the subject than I am in that branch of our profession, 
which, up to the present time, has been too much neglected. 
Similar marks of unsoundness are sometimes present 
between the fetlock and the coronet as have been described 
as found between the knee and fetlock, and which renders it 
unnecessary to dwell upon, sufficient having been said of the 
one to answer for the other ; we, however, may just mention, 
enpassant, that at the anterior part of the fetlock a bulging* 
or enlargement is frequently seen, which occasions some 
alarm. This will arise from one of several causes ; in one 
case it is analogous to a tumefied bursa ; in another, it will be 
caused by disease of the bone; but whatsoever the nature of 
the swelling may happen to be—and it is well to ascertain 
this as nearly as possible—it is caused by injury from with¬ 
out. Horses with upright pasterns are liable to it most 
especially ; although horses with legs and joints of every 
shape and form are obnoxious to it also. These enlarge¬ 
ments are often produced in the hunting-field. Jumping a 
wall or a rail, going too close to the fence, will likewise be a 
certain source of accident; indeed I know of no surer way 
than this to produce the injury. Horses addicted to pawing 
in the stable will injure their joints in a like manner; but of 
all things, going too close to timber or stone walls in the 
flying or buck jump is the most frequent. When w r e take 
into consideration the w r eight of a horse and its rider, the 
impetus with which the horse goes at a fence, the peculiar 
position of the soft and hard parts of the limbs, the fact of 
those soft parts being drawn as it w r ere tightly over the 
bones when the limb is doubled up ; we need not be sur¬ 
prised at injury being the result of a knock under these cir¬ 
cumstances. 
The same observations will apply to the knee. People 
often wonder at seeing their horses with big knees the morn¬ 
ing after a hunt. They cannot imagine how a slight tip, as 
they are pleased to call it, should so disfigure the leg. They 
do not take into consideration the position of the joint, the 
speed of the horse, and the texture and low state of organiza¬ 
tion of the integument at that particular part; if they knew 
all this they would no longer wonder, especially so when 
we remember that the fence is made of unyielding stone. 
In these observations I have not mentioned anything with 
respect to peculiar marks sometimes seen midway between 
