INFLAMED BUSJ5 MUCOS^E. 315 



largements, and may be observed in the legs (hind as well as fore) 

 of nearly every hard- worked horse, after a time. Great care in the 

 management of the legs by bandaging will sometimes keep them 

 off, and some horses have naturally no tendency to form them ; 

 but in most cases, on examining the legs, just above the fetlock 

 joints, of horses at work, a little oval bag may be felt on each 

 side, between the back-sinew and the bone. If rtcent, it is soft 

 and puffy ; but if the work is hard, and the wiudgall is of long 

 standing, it will be as tense as a drum. The synovial bag has no 

 communication with the fetlock joint; but there is another sac in 

 front of the joint, and beneath the tendons of the extensors, which 

 is often enlarged, though not so much so as the seat of the true 

 windgall, and which is generally, though not always, continuous 

 with the synovial capsule of the joint. The treatment consists in 

 pressure by means of bandages, and the application of cold lotions, 

 if the legs are hot and inflamed. Blistering and rest will remove 

 them entirely; but no sooner is the horse put to work again, than 

 they return as badly as ever. There is no radical cure but subcu- 

 taneous puncture and scarification, and this will produce too much 

 adhesion to be advantageously applied. 



THE FORM OF THOROUGHPIN in which the bursa mucosa be- 

 tween the tendo Achillis and the tendo perforatus is inflamed and 

 filled with synovia, has been alluded to at page 313, and its treat- 

 ment is there described. 



CAPPED HOCK is often the result of a bruise of the superficial 

 bursa, which is situated on the point of the hock, immediately 

 beneath the skin. It indicates either that the possessor has kicked 

 in the stable or in harness ; but it is more frequently caused in 

 the former way than in the latter. The swelling is sometimes 

 slight, being then just sufficient to show the point slightly enlarged, 

 and to give a soft, puffy sensation to the fingers, where there ought 

 to be nothing but bone felt beneath the skin. The bursa always 

 rolls freely on the bone, and when large, it can be laid hold of and 

 shaken like a bladder of water. The treatment should be directed 

 to abate any slight inflammation that may exist, if the case is 

 established ; but in recent ones, it is doubly necessary to apply cold 

 lotions, which, however, there is some difficulty in doing, owing to 

 the prominent nature of the part. A piece of stout calico or fine 

 canvas may, however, be shaped into a cap, carefully fitting the 

 point of the hock; and this being tied by several pieces of tape in 

 front of the leg, will allow not only of the application of cold 

 lotions, but of pressure also. By this plan, continued for some 

 weeks, considerable enlargements have been removed, but they 

 are very apt to return on the slightest bruise. Setons through the 

 bursa, and injections into its cavity of stimulating applications, 

 have often been tried ; but they generally do more harm than 



