onger on the ground, move
boldly and rapidly forward, and strike the ground promptly and forcibly.
All this is due to the fact that the sound member carries more than its
normal, healthy share of the weight of the body, a share which may be in
excess from 1 to 250 pounds, and thus bring its burden to a figure
varying from 251 to 500 pounds, all depending upon the degree of the
existing lameness, whether it is simply a slight tenderness or soreness,
or whether the trouble has reached a stage which compels the patient to
the awkwardness of traveling on three legs.

That all this is not mere theory, but rests on a foundation of fact may
be established by observing the manifestations attending a single
alteration in the balancing of the body. In health the support and
equilibrium of that mass of the body which is borne by the fore legs is
equalized and passes by regular alternations from the right to the left
side and vice versa. But if the left leg, becoming disabled, relieves
itself by leaning, as it were, on the right, the latter becomes,
consequently, practically heavier and the mass of the body will incline
or settle upon that side. Lameness of the left side, therefore, means
dropping or settling on the right and vice versa. We emphasize this
statement and insist upon it, the more from the frequency of the
instances of error which have come under our notice, in which persons
have insisted upon their view that the leg which is the seat of the
lameness is that upon which he drops and which the animal is usually
supposed to favor.

HOW TO DETECT THE SEAT OF LAMENESS.

Properly appreciating the remarks which have preceded, and fully
comprehending the modus operandi and the true pathology of lameness, but
little remains to be done in order to reach an answer to the question as
to which side of the animal is the seat of the lameness, except to
examine the patient while in action. We have already stated our reasons
for preferring the movement of trotting for this purpose. In conducting
such an examination the animal should be unblanketed, and held by a
plain halter in the hands of a man who knows how to manage his paces,
and the trial should always be made over a firm, hard road whenever it
is available. He is to be examined from various positions--from before,
from behind, and from each side. Watching him as he approaches, as he
passes by, and as he recedes, the observer should carefully study that
important action whic