188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Now WO will look at the spavin joint, which is the one that is so 

 easily spraiiKcl. The ladies sprain their ankles easily by stepping 

 siilewise, especially with the hii^h heeled shoes that many wear. We 

 frequently sprain this joint also, and it is an eas}' matter to wrench 

 this joint and even cause displacement. Now remember that the 

 horse's hoek joint is our instep, and instead of being down in 

 the boot, all clothed in tight, like ours, it is raised up from the 

 ground, with the heavy weight of a horse on top, and do you won- 

 der that a horse gets his ankle sprained, for this is the spavin joint. 

 A sprain in these parts is usuall}- followed by an ossific inflammation, 

 with a deposit of bon}' matter, and when this occurs the bones com- 

 mence to grow together, wiiich occasions severe pain, pressure, and 

 more or less enlargement. We have seven bones in this joint which 

 are known as os calcis, the astragalus, the cuboid, the scaphoid, the 

 ento-cuneiform and the messo-cuneiform. All those bones are closely 

 bound together. In this specimen we have an anchylosis or bony 

 union, of the scaphoid and the ento-cuneiform, and which at an earl}' 

 stage was an incipient spavin. In the natural course of events those 

 two bones would have grown firmly together, and thus become anch}'- 

 losed in spite of treatment. It might stop here ; but it ma}' in- 

 volve the attachment of the cuboid on the outer side, also the messo- 

 cuneiform ; and then all four become attached to the end of the 

 •cannon-bone. It may seem like a wonderful statement to make, but 

 there are more horses lame from spavins of this kind that no man 

 •can see or feel during life than from those which show these bony 

 enlargements. Hence you often hear a man say, "M}' horse has no 

 spavin because there isn't an}- enlargement," and that calls to mind 

 an interesting case. The horse was owned by the superintendent of 

 the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, and was brought from central 

 New York a few years ago. He was lame when taken from the 

 «ars and after a few weeks, as he did not improve, Mr. Davidson 

 consulted me, when on seeing the horse driven, I diagnosed an in- 

 •cipient spavin. ''Nonsense !" said he. "No enlargement, no heat, 

 nothing that you can see or feel." "Nevertheless," said I, "it is a 

 spavin." The horse was put under treatment and I applied an ac- 

 tive blister without firing, and in the course of a month or six weeks 

 the horse began to grow better, and in few months was as well as 

 ever. When he came to settle the bill he said, "Now there wasn't 

 any spavin at all, 5-ou happened to put the blister on at the right 



