218 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



of spavin, and a mine of wealth to lawyers and learned counsel. Coarse- 

 ness or lumpiness is a recognized condition of normal development in the 

 hocks of some horses, and to distinguish between the natural irregularities 

 of coarseness and those resulting from disease is always difficult and some- 

 times impossible. If these facts were more generally recognized and 

 allowed by veterinary practitioners, much of the litigation which now 

 engages our law-courts would be avoided, and the veterinary profession 

 would be saved from those strange exhibitions of discrepancy which tend 

 to weaken public confidence in their opinion and advice, if they do not 

 engender distrust. 



Symptoms. — The immediate effect of the jar or sprain giving rise to 

 spavin is to produce lameness, sometimes slight, sometimes severe. This 

 may or may not pass away, to return again when the enlargement of the 

 hock appears and encroaches upon the connecting ligaments of the joint. 

 The action of the spavined horse is marked by stiffness of the affected 

 limb. In movement the hock is imperfectly flexed and the leg has the 

 appearance of being carried. 



Compared with the opposite limb the stride is short and limping, and 

 the quarter is noticed to drop when the foot is brought to the ground. If 

 continued in work the toe strikes the ground and in time becomes worn. 

 Spavin lameness is most severe after a rest, and particularly noticeable 

 when the hor.se first leaves the stable, but it improves as he goes on. Heat 

 may or may not be detectable in the joint, and as the patient stands the 

 limb is rested on the toe or front part of the foot. 



Treatment. — On the first appearance of the disease the animal should 

 cease to work and receive a dose of physic. At the same time fomentations 

 or hot bandages should be applied to the hock until the existing inflam- 

 matory action is subdued. 



Cold-water irrigation for a few days should follow, after which a 

 repetition of blisters at intervals of a fortnight or three weeks may suffice 

 to effect a cure. Should, however, the lameness still continue, choice must 

 be made between the operations of firing and setoning, in either of which 

 case a long rest at grass will be desirable. 



Horses with spavins are frequently restored to service and continue to 

 work without interruption for the rest of their lives. Others, however, are 

 permanently crippled. The latter result is most frequent when the spavin 

 occupies a forward position. 



