The average subject is best observed by being led, rather than being ridden, and in so doing the animal should be given moderately free rein.  A close grasp on the lead may interfere somewhat with head movements.  Nodding of the head with the catching up of weight by a sound member in supporting-leg-lameness of a fore leg, constitutes the chief symptom considered in detecting the lame leg.

Where supporting-leg-lameness affects a hind limb the head is raised at the time weight is caught by the sound member—­here the long axis of the subject’s body may be likened unto a lever of the first class.  The posterior part of the body, at the time weight is taken upon the sound leg, is as the long arm:  the fore limbs the fulcrum, and the subject’s head the weight, which is lifted.  The head movements of a horse at a trot, in supporting-leg-lameness of a front leg, synchronize with the discharge of weight from a lame leg to the opposite one if sound; but in pelvic limb affections, the head is thrown or jerked upward as weight is caught by the sound member,—­this peculiar nodding movement is opposite in the two instances.

In pacing horses, since front and hind legs of the same side are advanced at the same time, there occurs in supporting-leg-lameness, a nodding of the head with discharge of weight from the lame leg, and a dropping of the hip as weight is caught by the sound pelvic member.  In observing animals that are limping, (as in supporting-leg-lameness) one notices particularly the sacro-iliac region in hind leg affections and the occipital region in lameness of the front legs.

Where there exists a bilateral affection, (such as characterizes some cases of navicular disease or other affections causing supporting-leg-lameness) there occurs no nodding of the head; weight is supported for an equal length of time upon each one of the two legs, but the stride[4] is shortened.  The gait, in such cases, is peculiar, animals appearing stiff and they are said, by horsemen, to have a “choppy” gait.

It is desirable, in some cases, to cause an animal to move from side to side; in other instances the subject is best made to walk or trot in a circle, and if the circle be very small the animal then particularly employs the inner fore leg as a pivotal supporting member.  To augment the manifestation of certain affections, it is necessary to cause the patient to walk backward, and each one of these tests of locomotion serves to point out in a more or less characteristic manner, the site of the affection which is causing lameness in different cases.

Sprains or injuries of lateral ligaments of the extremities, ringbone and certain foot affections, are made manifest by a side to side movement or a pivotal movement.  In fact, wherever it is possible to cause undue or unusual tension to be exerted upon an inflamed structure, manifestation of pain is the response.  In an inflamed condition of the lateral side of the phalanges, unequal weight-bearing such as a rough road surface will, by virtue of the leverage which the solar surface of the foot affords, cause undue strain upon such inflamed parts, and increased lameness is evident.