BOG-SPAVIN 119 



will be found quite useful, and from this sort of work, 

 in which quick motion is not required, the horse may 

 improve, and even the bony matter may be absorbed 

 to a considerable extent. 



One strong reason why spavined horses do not 

 improve is that they seldom lie down, as they are 

 conscious that they will suffer considerable pain in the 

 act of rising again ; so that the continual pressure and 

 weight of the body upon the limb keeps alive the ex- 

 citing cause. 



There is sometimes an enlargement of the heads 

 of the bones of the leg, which may be mistaken for 

 spavin. 



REMEDIES. Spavin can only be successfully treated, 

 if at all, by blisters frequently repeated, which may 

 induce an absorption of the bony deposit, or at least 

 a diminution of the ligamentary inflammation. When 

 this fails, then recourse may be had to the cautery, 

 but no horse should be subjected to the suffering 

 implied in blistering and firing until the seat of lame- 

 ness and the character of the disease has been decided 

 by an experienced veterinary surgeon. 



BOG-SPAVIN 



Is the name given to a distension of the capsule of 

 the true hock-joint. This distension is of frequent 

 occurrence in cart horses, young and old. It may be 

 due to conformation, debility, want of exercise, and 

 entire absence of disease of the joint, or it may be 

 dependent on an injury, and associated with more or 

 less congestion and inflammation (synovitis). Bog- 

 spavin constitutes a legal unsoundness, but in the 

 majority of cases the animal is practically a sound 

 animal, and in not a few the swelling of the hocks 

 disappears. It may be a grave malady, or a condition 



