anding, with the
hind legs separated. In the latter there is a lateral, balancing
movement at the loins, principally noticeable while the animal is in the
act of trotting--a peculiar motion, sometimes referred to as a "crick in
the back," or what the French call a "tour de bateau." If, while in
action, the animal is suddenly made to halt, the act is accompanied with
much pain, the back suddenly arching or bending laterally, and perhaps
the hind legs thrown under the body, as if unable to perform their
functions in stopping, and sometimes it is only accomplished at the cost
of a sudden and severe fall. This manifestation is also exhibited when
the animal is called upon to back, when a repetition of the same
symptoms will also occur.

If a slight pressure on the back or the loins is followed by a moderate
yielding of the animal, it is, as before remarked, a good sign of
health. With a sprain of the loins pressure of any kind is painful, and
will cause the animal to bend or to crouch under it more or less,
according to the weight of the pressure. Heavy loads, and even heavy
harnessing, will develop this tenderness. In lying down he seems to
suffer much discomfort, and often accompanies the act with groaning, and
when compelled to rise does so only with great difficulty and seldom
succeeds without repeated efforts.

Sprains of muscles proper, when recent, will always be accompanied with
this series of symptoms, and the fact of their exhibition, with an
excessive sensibility of the parts, and possibly with a degree of
swelling, will always justify a diagnosis of acute muscular lesion, and
especially so if accompanied with a history of violent efforts, powerful
muscular strains, falls, heavy loading, etc., connected with the case.
If the symptoms have been of slow development and gradual increase, it
becomes a more difficult task to determine whether the diagnosis points
to pathological changes in the structure of the muscles or of the bones,
the nervous centers, or the blood vessels of the region. And yet it is
important to decide as to which particular structure is affected in
reference to the question of prognosis, as the degree of gravity of the
lesion will depend largely upon whether the disabled condition of the
animal is due to an acute or a chronic disease.

_Treatment._--The prescription which will necessarily first of all
suggest itself for sprains of the loins is rest. An animal so affected
should be immediately