136 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



plaint is first noticed when the horse is just taken out 

 of the stable. The animal lifts his leg high, suddenly 

 elevating it towards his bellj, b,nd puts it to the g^-ound 

 with considerable force. Should both limbs be affected, 

 then it gives the appearance as if the horse had very good 

 and high action in his hind limbs, and many a purchaser 

 lias been deceived in consequence This shows the utility 

 of all possessors of horses having a general knowledge of 

 the complaints incidental to this useful animal. String- 

 halt soon disappears after the horse has been heated a little, 

 and it is no detriment to him after he has been warmed ; 

 for we have seen and ridden some of the best of hunters 

 . which have had that affection, and which were first in at the 

 death. 



We are not in possession of any means for the remedy of 

 this affection ; and although it is unpleasant to the rider 

 upon first setting out, yet it is no positive detriment to the 

 animal, nor is it reckoned unsoundness. Indeed the true 

 nature of the affection is not known. By some it has been 

 supposed to exist in the spinal marrow, and by others to be 

 situated in the nerves supplying some of the muscles of 

 the leg. 



BONE-SPAVIN. 



A bone-spavin is an increased growth of bony consistence 

 situated on the lower and most prominent part of the inside 

 of the hock-joint. (See plate 7, fig. 9, d.) A well-formed 

 hock-joint gradually tapers down so as to unite almost 

 imperceptibly with the soft or fleshy parts. In examining 

 a horse, the hand should be passed over the inside of the 

 hock in a downward direction, when horses having this 

 injury will be found to have a little prominence, near 

 the lower pomt of the bone Tliis is an enlargement of 



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