THOROUGHPIN 



357 



Whether the disease results from undue wear or inherent weakness of 

 the jiaits, withdrawal from work is the first step to be observed. What 

 should follow will depend upon the stage and duration of the malady. If 

 it is of l)ut recent occurrence, a mercurial charge of pitch-plaster applied to 

 the legs from the middle of the canon to the coronet, and a few weeks at 

 grass, may be all that is necessary. In more advanced cases, a course of 

 massage, cold-water irrigation, and tight bandages put on wet is to be 

 followed by a repetition of iodine-blisters at intervals of a fortnight during 

 six or eight weeks' rest. Before adjusting bandages in these cases, it is an 

 advantage to roll up pieces of tow into fairly firm pads and bind them on 

 the wind-galls. By adopting this course pressure is ensured on the spot 

 where it is most needed, and absorption is promoted. 

 In the more aggravated cases, where, in addition to 

 distension of the capsule of the joint or tendon, there 

 is also considerable thickening of the sac, deep firing 

 and blistering will rec[uire to be resorted to, and 

 further benefit may result if iodide of potassium be 

 given daily in two- or three-dram doses. In the 

 more extreme cases, involving the tendon-sheath only, 

 it may be necessary to remove the fluid by means of 

 the aspirator, and inject into the cavity a solution 

 of iodine to prevent further filling of the sac. 



THOROUGHPIN 



A thoroughpin is recognized as a fluctuating en- 

 largement situated above and behind the hock-joint, 

 between the tendo-Achilles or " ham-strings " and the 

 lower part of the leg-bone (fig. 382). The swelling 

 is more or less rounded or ovoid in form, and goes 

 through from one side to the other, hence the term 

 " thoroughpin ". The enlargement consists of a dis- 

 tension of the synovial sheath of the flexor pedis 

 tendon with fluid, and is of the same nature as those 

 smaller swellings which appear on and about the 

 fetlock -joints, termed " Wind-galls ". The liability 



to this disease is especially marked in heavy draught-horses, and par- 

 ticularly when in early life they are forced by high living and idleness 

 to rapid accumulation of flesh for show purposes. 



Causes. — As in bog-spavin, so in thoroughpin, the predisposition to it 

 is unquestionably hereditary, so much so in some instances that the writer 



Fig. 382.— Thoroughpin 



