Il6 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



direction, when horses having this injury will be found 

 to have a little prominence near the lower point of the 

 bone. This is an enlargement of the bone, and what 

 is termed bone-spavin. It is a disease of the inner 

 splint-bone, but in many cases ultimately it affects more 

 or less all the small bones of the hock. 



The true nature and causes which induce bone- 

 spavin cannot be properly understood without a 

 thorough knowledge of the hock-joint, which we 

 have represented on Plate vm, fig. i. In this figure 

 the shank-bone is represented at b, and the two small 

 bones behind at g are the splint-bones ; these support 

 the lower layer of the bones of the hock. The cube- 

 bone, f, rest chiefly on the shank-bone, and in a slight 

 measure on the outer splint-bone. The middle wedge- 

 bone, e, rests entirely upon the shank-bone, and the 

 smaller wedge-bone rests in a slight degree on the 

 shank-bone, but its chief support is on the inner 

 splint-bone. From this arrangement the splint-bones 

 support a very unequal degree of weight and con- 

 cussion. The inner one is placed more under the 

 body, and consequently nearer the centre of gravity, 

 and besides nearly the entire weight and concussion is 

 communicated to the little wedge-bone. Hence it is 

 that during any violent action of this Joint either in 

 leaping, galloping, or under the pressure of a heavy 

 draught, the inner splint-bone or its ligaments are 

 injured. This is more especially the case with young 

 horses before their joints have become firmly con- 

 solidated. 



The shoeing blacksmith or farrier too often is the 

 cause of inducing and increasing this complaint, by 

 improper treatment of the feet. An erroneous notion 

 has too long prevailed among smiths that cutting and 

 wounds of the feet inflicted by the one foot treading 



