76 THE ITINERANT HORSE PHYSICIAN 



treat cases of exceptional interest, most of them 

 being chronic conditions requiring surgical inter- 

 ference. 



One of the commonest abnormalities which I 

 was given an opportunity to treat was extreme 

 volar flexion of the fetlock joint in anterior 

 limbs. Why this condition came to my attention 

 so frequently I can not explain; however, in the 

 thirty-odd towns I stopped in on this route I was 

 shown at least fifteen or twenty such cases. 



Some I endeavored to correct by performing 

 tenotomy; others were advised variously for 

 treatment or noninterference. What the result 

 was in any case I am, of course, unable to say as I 

 did not remain long enough in any particular 

 vicinity to witness the outcome. 



Another condition which I met with excep- 

 tional frequency was fistula of the withers, and 

 some of the "rottenest" cases of this condition 

 in my whole experience as a veterinarian I saw in 

 that country. The regular treatment for this con- 

 dition among the quacks and horse- jockeys there 

 seemed to be a certain manner of filling the 

 horse's ears with ground glass. 



When I was making this trip there seemed to 

 be a mania among the people down there for cut- 

 ting the membrana nictitans out of their horses' 

 eyes. I would feel safe to wager a good sum of 

 money that there are more horses in Oklahoma 

 and parts of Texas minus this part of their anat- 

 omy than there are in any other part of the world. 



The condition for which they perform this 

 operation is called "hooks"; just what "hooks" 

 originally signified I have not been able to learn. 



