BONE-SPAVIN 115 



may be met with in the fore limbs. The animal 

 lifts his leg high, suddenly elevating it towards his 

 belly, and puts it to the ground 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 has 

 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 may disappear after the horse has been 

 heated a little, and apparently in some instances 

 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. 



String-halt, pure and uncomplicated, is an affection 

 of the sacro-sciatic nerve, and legally constitutes un- 

 soundness, but practically it is, as a rule, a disease 

 which neither impairs the animal's usefulness, nor 

 limits his age. Owing to the peculiarity of the action 

 of the limbs, it may be mistaken and confounded with 

 the spinal and cranial disease, " shivering." Both 

 are hereditary diseases, but the " shiverer " is always 

 a bad subject, easily knocked up with work, 

 always gets worse, and rarely lives above the adult 

 period of life. String-halt requires no treatment. 



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 vn, fig. 

 9, a). 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 



