IN SEARCH OP A HORSE. 123 



origin the reverse of the last. It arises from too 

 great an accumulation of synovial fluid, and cor- 

 responds in character with the complaint already 

 described under the term of wind-galls ; it proceeds 

 from over-exertion. It does not necessarily produce 

 lameness, but it unfits a horse for severe labor, 

 and is, of course, objectionable. When the swelling 

 extends from one side of the leg to the other, or through 

 the limb as it were, it is called "thorough pin." 



A curb (from the French word courher) is a swell- 

 ing from the back part of the hock, just below the 

 cap of the joint, and arises from a sudden strain, 

 such as an abrupt halt in a charge of cavalry. In 

 the sound state, the line of the leg from the hock 

 to the heel is almost perpendicular ; if it inclines 

 at all, it is inwardly. The efi'eet of a curb is to 

 alter this inclination immediately under the hock, 

 and to give a little elevation or outward curva- 

 ture to the line : of course it becomes visible on 

 looking at the profile of the leg. Lameness is 

 by no means a necessary consequence, especially if 

 the disease is of old standing : the eye, therefore, 

 or the touch, must be relied upon as the only certain 

 guide to discover it. 



