Lameness of the Horse | Page 3

an ailment or affection and is not to be
considered in itself as an anomalous condition. It is the manifestation of
a structural or functional disorder of some part of the locomotory
apparatus, characterized by a limping or halting gait. Therefore, any
affection causing a sensation and sign of pain which is increased by the
bearing of weight upon the affected member, or by the moving of such
a distressed part, results in an irregularity in locomotion, which is
known as lameness or claudication. A halting gait may also be
produced by the abnormal development of a member, or by the
shortening of the leg occasioned by the loss of a shoe.
For descriptive purposes lameness may be classified as true and false.
True lameness is such as is occasioned by structural or functional
defects of some part of the apparatus of locomotion, such as would be
caused by spavin, ring-bone, or tendinitis. False lameness is an
impediment in the gait not caused by structural or functional
disturbances, but is brought on by conditions such as may result from
the too rapid driving of an unbridle-wise colt over an irregular road
surface, or by urging a horse to trot at a pace exceeding the normal gait
of the animal's capacity, causing it to "crow-hop" or to lose balance in
the stride. The latter manifestation might, to the inexperienced eye,
simulate true lameness of the hind legs, but in reality, is merely the
result of the animal having been forced to assume an abnormal pace
and a lack of balance in locomotion is the consequence.

The degree of lameness, though variable in different instances, is in
most cases proportionate to the causative factor, and this fact serves as
a helpful indicator in the matter of establishing a diagnosis and giving
the prognosis, especially in cases of somewhat unusual character. An
animal may be slightly lame and the exhibition of lameness be such as
to render the cause bafflingly obscure. Cases of this nature are
sometimes quite difficult to classify and in occasional instances a
positive diagnosis is impossible. Subjects of this kind may not be
sufficiently inconvenienced to warrant their being taken out of service,
yet a lame horse, no matter how slightly affected, should not be
continued in service unless it can be positively established that the
degree of discomfort occasioned by the claudication is small and the
work to be done by the animal, of the sort that will not aggravate the
condition.
Subjects that are very lame--so lame that little weight is borne by the
affected member--are, of course, unfit for service and as a rule are not
difficult of diagnosis. For instance, a fracture of the second phalanx
would cause much more lameness than an injury to the lateral ligament
of the coronary joint wherein there had occurred only a slight sprain,
and though crepitation is not recognized, the diagnostician is not
justified in excluding the possibility of fracture, if the lameness seems
disproportionate to the apparent first cause.
The course taken by cases of lameness is as variable as the degree of its
manifestation, and no one can definitely predict the duration of any
given cause of claudication.
Because of the fact that horses are not often good self-nurses at best,
and that it is difficult to enforce proper care for the parts affected, one
can not wisely state that resolution will promptly follow in an acute
involvement, nor can he predict that the case will or will not become
chronic. Experience has proved that complete or partial recovery may
result, or again, that no change may occur in any given case, and that in
some instances even where rational treatment is early administered, a
decided aggravation of the condition may follow unaccountably.
However, because of the economic element to be reckoned with, it is of

some value to be able to give a fairly accurate prognosis in the handling
of cases of lameness, as in the majority of instances the treatment and
manner of after-care are determined largely by the expense that any
prescribed line of attention will occasion.
A case of acute bone spavin in a horse of little value is not generally
treated in a manner that will incur an expense equivalent to one-half the
value of the subject. The fact is always to be considered in such cases,
that even where ideal conditions favor proper treatment, the outcome is
uncertain. Where less than six weeks of rest can be allowed the animal,
one affected with bone spavin would therefore not be treated with the
expectation of obtaining good results, as six weeks' time, at least, is
necessary for a successful outcome. If the cost attending the enforced
idleness of an animal of this kind is considered prohibitive for the
employment of proper measures to