’Having satisfied myself that it was no other than the same animal, my first impulse was at once to find out the jockey who was to ride him, and warn him of his danger by telling him his mount was devoid of feeling in both fore-feet; but the saddling-bell had already rung, and in a few moments more the jockey emerged from the weighing-room and the next view of the horse was his tearing up the course in the preliminary, and “pulling double.”  I was sorry for the jockey if he felt as I did at that moment, for if he did I fear he and his horse would have parted company at the first fence, as I was certain there would be a smash before the end of the long and difficult three miles of the Kildare Hunt Cup course.  It was not until I saw him again in the front rank passing the stand, in the first round, that I breathed freely, and even then I felt very guilty, and, had he come to grief badly, I don’t think I should ever have operated on another horse except in such a way as would have left unmistakable traces after it.

’"The old horse wins!” screamed a thousand voices as the competitors safely cleared the last bank (now taken away for a gorse fence) the last time round, and from that moment the operation went up in my estimation a hundredfold, and I almost lost all interest in the finish (and it was a close one, with my patient a good third), resolving I would operate for the future on every animal, young and old, which showed symptoms of navicular disease.

’Neither owner nor jockey knew the horse had been operated on, and he was soon after, on the strength of his performance, sold for a good price to come to England.  It is idle to think that all cases are as successful as this was, as experience soon told me; but I consider that, in careful hands, the advantages well outweigh the disadvantages of the operation, and I have selected this instance merely as a practical example.’[A]

[Footnote A:  Veterinary Journal, vol. iii., p. 254 (W.  Pallin, M.B.C.V.S.).]

It is solely with the object of ventilating both sides of the question that we quote the last two cases.  In our opinion, the colours in which the results of the operation are there painted are far too rosy.  The practitioner who has before him the task of satisfying a client as to what will or what will not be the results of an operation he has suggested will do well to weigh each side of the argument carefully, and endeavour in his explanation to strike the happy mean.

We hold, further, that the animal who has previously been accustomed to fast work, and to work entailing a large call upon the sense of touch when passing over rough and uneven ground, will be far more likely, in his neurectomized condition, to give satisfaction to his owner if put to a slower and a more suitable means of earning his living.

CHAPTER VI

FAULTY CONFORMATION