300 CHAPTER 37. 



597. Peculiarities of a good Hock. 



The outline should be clean, rigid, and in an adult horse well defined. 

 Any puffiness or swelling is a sign of weakness or disease. The reason 

 of this will be explained hereafter under the head of Bursal enlargements. 



The bones should be large and prominent. Large size is essential to 

 strength, and prominence is necessary in order to afford due leverage 

 and attachment to the tendons and ligaments. Large bones are usually 

 accompanied by large and well-developed tendons and ligaments. 



The Hock, when viewed from the side, should appear wide both above 

 and below (i. e. from A to A and from B to B, Plate 22). Strength and 

 size both of bones and ligaments are indicated by lateral width. 



The hocks should be neither straight (Plate 23, figure 1), nor over- 

 much bent (figure 2). Undue concussion results from the former, whilst 

 weakness and liability to sprain accompany the latter formation. If 

 the hocks are placed too far behind (figure 3) there will be a want of 

 propelling and jumping power. 



The hocks should be placed directly under the centre of gravity. Any 

 deviation from the perpendicular line laterally, as is the case when the 

 hocks are inclined too much in (Plate 24, figure 4), or too much out 

 (figure 5), is a source of weakness and therefore of disease. 



In order to give due leverage to the muscles of the thigh, it is essential 

 that the tibia should run down well into the hock. A well-developed 

 and prominent os calcis is also essential to the leverage of the tendons of 

 the leg. Figures 6 and 7. 



598. Peculiarities of a badly formed Hock. 



Badly formed hocks are marked by peculiarities of conformation, the 

 reverse of those we have just described. 



599. Disease intimately connected ivith defective Conformation. 



The diseases found in the hock generally correspond pretty closely 

 with the points in which the conformation is defective. For instance, in 

 upright hocks we may expect bog spavin and thorough-pin ; in over-bent 

 hocks, curb ; in narrow hocks, spavin and curb may be looked for ; in 

 hocks which bow out, thorough-pin ; whilst in small hocks there is general 

 want of strength and consequent liability to sprain and disease of any 

 sort. 



It is not however to be supposed, that horses with defective conforma- 

 tion either in the hocks or elsewhere are useless for any purpose. All 

 that we intend to say is that defective conformation entails a special 

 liability to disease. Again horses, which from defects of conformation 

 may be unfit for one sort of work, may be available for another. A horse 

 for example, whose hocks will not stand the violent exertion of hunting, 

 may last for years for quiet riding or harness work. 



Spavin will be treated of in the next Chapter. Thorough-pins and Bog 

 spavins will be considered under the head of Bursal enlargements in 

 Chapter No. 41 ; and Curbs and Sprains under the head of Sprains of 

 the Hind leg in Chapter No. 45. 



