LAMENESS IN A HORSE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 208, 3 August 1937, Page 4

LAMENESS IN A HORSE.

It is very hard to detect lameness, and to locate it when a horse is just going a little sore or tender. On the other hand, an animal may be so far disabled as to be unable, or .refuse, to use the affected member at all, and if forced to move does so on three legs. Those, of course, aro tho two extremes, and between them are many degrees of disability. Usually tho discovery that the animal is becoming lame is easy, but what is not nearly so easy is to locate the seat of the trouble. The high carriage of a hip and outward swinging ol tht limb means investigation of the hip joint and surrounding region. Horses with ring bones and side bones have a tendency to go short and on the heels, while those with navicular disease have a short stumbling action. All these and many other movements should he watched for. Splines are most commonly seen in young horses when first put to work, but unless badly placed do not give rise to permanent lameness, and in aged animals they are generally more or less disregarded. Whenever a joint is swollen and hot it should always be presumed to be the cause of lameness.