166 SPAVIN. 



Spavin. 



This is an affection of the tendons, ligaments, and 

 bursa connected with the hock. From a strain, 

 violent exercise, or similar cause, an increased ac- 

 tion is set up in these parts which glide upon each 

 other, irritation results and the parts enlarge. Or, 

 an exudation of serum occurs, tinged or not with 

 blood, which may be absorbed afterward or remain 

 for a long time a soft movable tumor ; or by degrees 

 an ossific or bony deposit takes place, resulting in a 

 firm, hard, bony tumor. These several stages or 

 degrees of the same common affection have been 

 termed Bog- Spavin, Blood-Spavin, and B one- 

 Spavin. Wind-Galls and Thorough Pins are but 

 local variations of the same essential condition 

 enlargements of the bursa and tendons of the joint. 

 Spavin is essentially an inflammation of the ligament- 

 ous connections of the small metatarsal, with the 

 internal cuneiform bone of the hock, yet the position 

 of the swelling and ossific deposit may vary consider- 

 ably. It usually shows itself on the inner and lower 

 side of the hock at the lower portion of the joint. 

 A careful comparison of the two legs with the eye 

 and hand will best disclose the evil. ''Sometimes 

 it appears as a soft swelling of the femoral vein 

 along the inner surface of the hock. Or again, as a 

 hot. painful, laming swelling, extending from the 

 posterior border of the hock downward, which may 

 afterward become a hard bony tumor, insensible, 

 causing the animal to limp only when making some 



