BONE-SPAVIN. 271 



to the union of the tibia a, and the astragalus b ; when the joint, in which 

 is the chief motion of the hock, is attacked, the lameness is indeed formid- 

 able, and the horse becomes nearly or quite useless. A recollection of 

 the situation of the different bones of the hock, may, in some measure, 

 guide the purchaser as to the probable value and use of the spavined horse ; 

 but he must not depend on this, for deep-seated deposits of bone, which the 

 eye cannot reach, may interfere more with the action of the joint, than any 

 outward enlargement, however great. 



Spavined horses are generally capable of slow work. They are equal 

 to the greater part of the work of the farm, and therefore they will not be 

 always rejected by the small farmer, and may generally be procured at 

 little price. These horses are not only capable of agricultural work, but 

 they generally improve under it; they become less lame, and even the 

 bony tumour to a certain degree diminishes. There is sufficient moderate 

 motion and friction of the limb to rouse the absorbents to action, and cause 

 them to take up a portion of the bony matter thrown out, but not enough to 

 renew or prolong inflammation. We cannot say that the plough affords a 

 cure for spavin, but we have seen many instances in which the spavined 

 horse has very materially improved at it. 



For fast work, and for work that must be regularly performed, they are 

 not so well calculated ; for this lameness behind produces great difficulty 

 in rising up, and the consciousness that he will not be able to rise without 

 painful effort, prevents the horse from lying down at all ; and a horse that 

 cannot rest well, cannot long travel far and fast. This is well known to 

 postmasters. A foundered horse may do his work, for as soon as he has 

 satisfied his appetite he is down ; but the horse that will seldom or never 

 lie down, must be speedily worn out. 



Our cut shows at e, the natural situation of spavin, but there is some- 

 limes an expansion of the heads of the bones of the leg, that looks very 

 much like it, and has been mistaken for it. Both hocks should be examined, 

 for it is rare that there will be an unnatural growth of bone of precisely 

 the same form and appearance in both ; and if there be a natural projection, 

 or breadth of the heads of the bones, all the other joints will present the 

 same bold character. 



The treatment of spavin is simple enough, but not always effectual. 

 The owner of the horse will neither consult his own interest, nor the. 

 dictates of humanity, if he suffers the chisel and mallet, or the gimlet, or 

 the pointed iron, or arsenic to be used ; yet measures of considerable 

 severity must be resorted to. Repeated blisters will usually cause 

 either the absorption of the bony deposit, or the abatement or removal of 

 the inflammation of the ligaments. As a last resort, however, the hot iron 

 may be applied. 



We have thus presented our readers with a fearful list of diseases 

 belonging to the hock, but our catalogue is not completed. It is well known 

 that the horse is frequently subject to lameness behind, when no ostensible 

 cause for it can be found, and there is no external heat or enlargement to 

 indicate its seat. Farriers and grooms pronounce these to be affections of 

 'he stifle, or round bone ; or if the gait of the horse and peculiar stiffness 

 of motion point out the hock as the affected part, yet the joint may be of 

 its natural size, and neither heat nor tenderness can be discovered. The 

 groom has here a method of unravelling the mystery : he says that it is the 

 beginning of spavin ; but months and years pass away, and the spavin does 

 not appear, and the horse is at length destroyed, as incurably lame. Horse 

 men are indebted to Mr. W. J. Goodwin for the discovery of the seat of fre- 

 quent lameness behind. Our cut represents two layers of small bones oo 



