SHOULDER-LAMENESS,—in a horse, is a defect in the scapularian muscles, or at the ligamentary junction of the fore thigh-bone with the concave point of the shoulder blade, upon which many, and some opposite opinions have been obstinately maintained: and there are not wanting at the present moment, those who _affect_ to believe, and presume to affirm, "there is no such thing as a shoulder lameness in _any_ horse." The absurdity of this ridiculous and contemptible assertion, can only be equalled by the unparalleled ignorance and illiteracy of those who make it: strangers to the anatomical structure of parts, they are inadequate to the comprehension of their uses, and the purposes to which they become intentionally appropriate. In direct confutation of such futile opinion, it is most indisputably ascertained, that injuries are frequently sustained in the shoulders, from which _incurable_ lameness often ensues. Such accidents and misfortunes happen to horses in different ways: some by unforeseen circumstances, which no human prudence can prevent; others (equal, if not superior in number) by carelessness, inhumanity, inattention, or neglect. Lameness in the shoulder may be occasioned by the horse's being too suddenly _stopped_ and _turned_ upon uneven ground; sliding, stumbling, or flipping down, in a distorted position of either fore leg; turning too rapidly in a narrow stall, or too quick, sudden and short into a stable. That all which may be the better understood, by those who are anxious for information, and open to conviction, it is necessary, for the accommodation of every comprehension, to observe, that the blade or shoulder-bone not being fixed to the body by articulation, but by apposition adhering to the ribs, and firmly fastened thereto by corresponding muscles _above_ and _below_, the animal, in undergoing any of the casualties before recited, sustains the injury described; in which the tendons or coats of those muscles are strained and relaxed; and as the extension has been more or less violent, so will the case be more or less dangerous and perplexing.