464 
A. A. HOLCOMBE. 
ing infantry companies. Consequently the per centage of diseased 
animals is unusually large. 
Furthermore, all had had opportunities for becoming diseased 
or disabled from actual service (wear and tear). But a reference 
to the above table shows that about 10 per cent, of the cases of 
ringbone were but six years old. This, then, would limit them to 
not more than one summer’s campaigning. About 11 per cent, 
were seven years old, 19 per cent, eight years old, eight per cent, 
nine years old, and three per cent, ten years old, the greatest per 
centage appearing at eight years old. Or, to sum the matter up, 
50 per cent, of the diseased horses had sidebones, and 50 per cent, 
of the sidebones, or 25 per cent, of all the diseased horses, had 
not passed their tenth year: or, in other words, admitting that all 
had entered the service at five years past, which is by no means 
probable, half of the sideboned horses had seen on an average, but 
two and eleven-sixteenths years of sendee. Another important 
fact in connection with this disease is, that it is the young horses 
that are disabled by it, while in the older ones incapacity does 
not necessarily follow its development. Of course, the presence 
of sidebones in all instances serves to impair the elasticity of the 
gait, causes more or less stumbling and detracts from the subject’s 
value for cavalry purposes. 
As was stated in the table above, 41 out of 64, or over 64 per 
cent, of the cases had the disease in both fore feet; 15, or more 
than 23 per cent., in the right foot only, and but four in the left 
fore foot. I suppose it is beyond question by any one that cav¬ 
alry service of necessity tends to develop disease of the fore-feet 
by reason of the weight which the animal is compelled to carry. 
Naturally, sidebones would be expected as the result of the con¬ 
cussion. That the right foot is more often affected than the left 
is no doubt to be accounted for on the ground that most horses, 
in galloping, lead with the right foot, thereby subjecting it to a 
greater amount of concussion than its neighbor. 
Now, what seems to me the important question is, Are all 
these cases of sidebones developed as the results of the cavalry ser¬ 
vice ? If the specification “ sound in every particular ” is observed 
by the inspectors, the disease evidently develops in a large per 
