WIND-GALLS. 201 



shut sacks are placed, on which the tendons move, to prevent 

 friction. These little sacks are very smooth on their inside sur- 

 faces, which secrete a fluid just the same as joint-imter, to lu- 

 bricate or moisten the surfaces which lie in contact with each 

 other. These sacks are very numerous near the joints, where 

 there are many tendons fastened. Now, these sacks may become 

 inflamed from undue pressure, resulting from violent action of 

 the tendons, or from blows, etc. One of the common results of 

 inflammation is a thickening of the structure or part inflamed. 

 So wind-galls are often only the thickened walls of these little 

 shut sacks, and which, of course, remain thickened after the 

 inflammation has subsided. Still another result of inflamma- 

 tion is, especially in surfaces that secrete any fluid, to cause an 

 excessive quantity of fluid, of a slightly different character, to 

 be secreted or poured out. So it generally happens that, when 

 these little shut sacks become inflamed, their secretion is greatly 

 increased, and, as there is no opening in the sack, it must re- 

 main there, and form a puffy tumor, which has been called 

 wind-gall, from the erroneous opinion, formerly entertained, that 

 it contained wind. A portion of the fluid may, however, after 

 a long time, be got rid of by means of absorption, and this the 

 thinner portion, leaving the thicker part of the fluid still in the 

 sack, forming a tumor of greater hardness, but not of the bony 

 hardness of splint. 



When the horse is very old, the process of absorption be- 

 comes very active, and all wind-galls will then disappear. Few 

 horses are entirely free from these eyesores, for, generally, they 

 are only such. When they are first forming, before the inflam- 

 mation subsides, they may occasionally cause lameness, but 

 after this, unless they attain an enormous size, they do not in- 

 terfere with the horse's action, or cause unsoundness. 



Sf/mjitoms. — Wind-galls may be known from their location in 

 the neighborhood of the tendons above the fetlock, and, more 

 frequently, about the point of their insertion, from the puffy 



