BONE SPAVIN. 36.* 



cases it may be necessary to fire ; but a fair trial, however, should be given to 

 milder measures. If the iron is used, it should be applied in straight lines. 



There are few lamenesses in which absolute and long-continued rest is more 

 requisite. It leaves the parts materially weakened, and, if the horse is soon put 

 to work again, the lameness will frequently return. No horse that has had 

 curbs should be put even to ordinary work in less than a month after the appa- 

 rent cure, and, even then, he should very gradually resume his former habits. 



A horse with a curb is manifestly unsound. A horse with the vestige of curb 

 should be regarded with much suspicion, or generally condemned as unsound. 



Curb is also an hereditary complaint, and therefore a horse that has once suf- 

 fered from it should always be regarded with suspicion^ especially if either of 

 the parents has exhibited it. 



BOG SPAVIN. 



The hock is plentifully furnished with reservoirs of mucus to lubricate the 

 different portions of this complicated joint. Some of these are found on the in- 

 side of the joint, which could not be represented in the cut, page 361. From 

 over-exertion of the joint they become inflamed, and considerably enlarged. 

 They are wind-galls of the hock. The subcutaneous vein passes over the insicjp 

 of the hock, and over some of these enlarged mucous reservoirs, and is com- 

 pressed between them and the external integument, ~the course of the blood 

 is partially arrested, and a portion of the vein below the impediment, and be- 

 tween it and the next valve, is distended, and causes the soft tumour on the inside 

 of the hock, called Bog or Blood spavin. 



This is a very serious disease, attended with no great, but often permanent 

 lameness, and too apt to return when the enlargement has subsided under me- 

 dical treatment. It must be considered as decided unsoundness. In a horse 

 for slow draught it is scarcely worth while even to attack it. And in one des- 

 tined to more rapid action, the probability of a relapse should not be forgotten, 

 when the chances of success and the expenses of treatment are calculated. 



The cause of the disease the enlarged mucous capsule lies deep, and is 

 with difficulty operated upon. Uniform pressure would sometimes cause the 

 absorption of the fluid contained in cysts or bags like these, but, in a joint 

 of such extensive motion as the hock, it is difficult, or almost impossible, to 

 confine the pressure on the precise spot at which it is required. Could it be 

 made to bear on the enlarged bag, it would likewise press on the vein, and to 

 a greater degree hinder the passage of the blood, and increase the dilatation 

 below the obstruction. The old and absurd method of passing a ligature above 

 and below the enlarged portion of the vein, and then dissecting out the tumour, 

 is not, in the advanced stage of veterinary science, practised by any surgeon 

 who regards his reputation. The only method of relief which holds out any 

 promise even of temporary success is exciting considerable inflammation on the 

 skin, and thus rousing the deeper seated absorbents to carry away the fluid 

 effused in the enlarged bag. For this purpose, blisters or firing may be tried : 

 but in the majority of cases the disease will bid defiance to all appliances, or will 

 return and baffle our hopes when we had seemed to be accomplishing our object. 



A horse with bog spavin will do for ordinary work. He may draw in a cart, 

 or trot fairly in a lighter carriage, with little detriment to his utility ; but he 

 will never do for hard or rapid work. 



BONE SPAVIN. 



A still more formidable disease ranks under the name of Spavin, and is an 

 affection of the bones of the hock-joint. It has been stated that the bones of 

 the leg, the shank-bone g, page 301, and the two small splint-bones behind, A, 

 support the lower layer of the bones of the hock. The cube-bone, rf, rests prin- 



