268 THE HORSE. 



aftei a I ardly contested race, an extraordinary leap, a severe gallop over 

 heavy ground, or a sudden check in the gallop. Young horses are panic- 

 ularly liable to it, and horses that are cow-hocked, (vide cut, p. 262,) or 

 wliose hocks and legs resemble those of the cow, the hocks being turned 

 inward, and the legs forming a considerable angle outwards. This is intel- 

 li"-ible enough ; for in the hocks so formed, the annular ligament must be 

 continually on the stretch to confine the tendon. 



Curbs are generally accompanied by considerable lameness at their first 

 appearance, but the swelling is not always great ; indeed, it sometimes pre- 

 sents so gradual a curve, that it is scarcely perceivable when we stand behind 

 the horse, and both the horseman and the veterinary surgeon have over- 

 looked it. It is best detected by observing the leg sideway. 



The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflammation, and this 

 will be most readily accomplished by cold evaporating lotions, frequently 

 applied to the part. Equal portions of spirit of wine, water, and vinegar, 

 will afford an excellent application. It will be almost impossible to keep 

 a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are considerable, it will be prudent 

 to physic the horse, and to bleed from the subcutaneous vein, whose course 

 is represented at r, page 259. Whether the injury be of the annular liga- 

 ment, or the sheath of the tendon, more active means will be necessary to 

 perfect the cure. Either a liquid blister should be rubbed on the part, 

 consisting of a vinous or turpentine tincture of cantharides, and this daily 

 applied until some considerable swelling takes place, which should be 

 allowed to subside, and then the liniment again resorted to; or, what is the 

 preferable plan, the hair should be cut off, and the part blistered as soon as 

 the heat has been subdued. The blister should be repeated until the horse 

 goes sound, and the swelling has disappeared. In severe cases it may be 

 necessary to fire, but we cannot recommend the indiscriminate recourse to 

 the hot iron in every case of curb, and we would uniformly give a fair 

 trial to milder measures. If the iron be used, the strokes should be in 

 straight lines. 



There are few complaints in which absolute and long-continued rest is 

 more requisite than in curb. An injury so serious leaves the parts very 

 materially weakened, and if the horse be soon put to work again, the lame- 

 ness will frequently return. No horse that has had curbs should be put 

 even to ordinary work in less than a month after the apparent cure, and 

 even then he should very gradually resume his former habits. 



A horse with a curb is manifestly unsound. A horse with the vestige 

 of curb we should regard with much suspicion, or generally condemn as 

 unsound ; for although the neighbouring parts may have accommodated 

 themselves to the slight enlargement that remains, they are not in their 

 natural situation, and have lost a portion of their natural strength: some 

 latent disposition to relapse may continue, which extraordinary exertion 

 may rouse to action ; and, besides tiiis, it should be remembered that curb 

 is an hereditary complaint, and that there may be some constitutional weak- 

 ness of these parts. 



BOG-SPAVIN. 



The hock is plentifully furnished with mucous bags, to lubricate the dif- 

 ferent portions of this complicated joint. Some of these are found on the 

 inside of the joint, which could not be represented in our cut, page 262 

 From over-exertion of the joint they become inflamed, and considerably 

 enlarged. They are wind-galls of the hock. The subcutaneous vein 

 passes over the inside of the hock, and over some of these enlarged bags^ 



