182 Common Diseases of the Horse 



a long working life on town stones. So long as there is any degree 

 of elasticity or resilience to the touch, ossification, or the formation 

 of bone, cannot be said to have taken place. The prophet who 

 declares that such and such an animal will put up a "knot" (as 

 sidebone is invariably known in the north of England), will in 

 many cases find himself held up to ridicule as time goes on and 

 no change takes place in the condition. 



Symptoms. — During the formation of the cartilage into bone, 

 i.e. while the " knot " is being formed, lameness, more or less, is 

 'occasioned, although there cannot be said to be any very char- 

 acteristic gait. The horse will put his toe to the ground first, 

 and be short and stiff in his action. He may be said to go in 

 a pottering manner, and will lie down whenever opportunity offers, 

 to relieve the pressure in the inflamed parts, and will not shovi 

 any inclination to get up unless compelled to do so. If kept at 

 work his condition will fall away; he will go over, or knuckle, 

 on his joints, become worn on his tendons, and soon assume an 

 entirely worn-out appearance. In this bone-forming stage care 

 and attention will usually avert serious developments. Work 

 should be ceased immediately the stiff gait is noticed, the shoes 

 should be taken off, and the horn in the region of the sidebone 

 rasped as thin as possible to remove the pressure on the sensitive 

 parts. The hoof should also be kept moist all over, and for this 

 purpose castor oil, well rubbed into the coronet and applied over 

 the surface of the horn, is an excellent remedy. The animal should 

 be turned out to grass or put in a loose box, and bedded on some 

 soft material, peat moss for choice, and kept there until the bone- 

 forming process is complete. 



In many cases the lameness will be hardly noticeable, a slight 

 stiffness only being present. In such cases, appropriate shoeing 

 and light work on soft land will be found beneficial. When the 

 sidebone has fully developed, the lameness will usually disappear, 

 but if it still continues, various remedies may be used. 



Treatment. — A very simple and, as a rule, satisfactory method 

 is by shoeing with a round shoe, thus relieving the heels of pressure 

 and transferring it to the frog. On no account should the opera- 

 tion known as springing the heels be allowed, i.e. removing the 

 horn at the heels so that the wall in that region does not touch 

 the shoe. The result of this is that with every step taken con- 

 siderable concussion is caused by the weight of the animal pressing 

 the diseased part on to the shoe, and thus adding to the pain and 

 aggravating the disease. 



Should the lameness still persist, the operation first introduced 



