On the road, or on the street, a horse sometimes falls, makes several violent efforts to rise, and then lies still. Upon examination a fracture is found in one of his legs, generally a fore leg. There is something about this accident which I do not understand. It is far from being rare. In all the cases which have come under my own observation, the rider or driver could only tell that the horse fell, and could not rise, or that he made several efforts to keep his feet before he went fairly down. He never knows whether the leg is broken in the fall, after the fall, or in trying to avoid it. It may be that the leg is sometimes broken by a blow from the opposite foot. In different horses I have seen the pastern, the shank, and the fore-arm, broken, but it is oftenest the shank, between the knee and the fetlock.

It is a common opinion that a horse's bones, once broken, never unite. This is a standard error. A man who talks of curing fracture in a horse is pretty sure of a rebuke or a sneer. But, in truth, a broken bone unites as fast and firmly in horses as in men. The attempt to cure is seldom made, because the horse is rarely worth the cost. He may, after all, remain permanently stiff or lame, and fit only for particular kinds of work, for which he will not bring as much money as will pay the keep and treatment. A stallion, a brood-mare, and a favorite, are almost the only horses upon whom an attempt is made to produce a cure, and for the sake of these it is well to know that a cure is often possible.