284 BONE SPAVIN. 



joint. It is well known to horsemen, that many a hunter, with 

 spavm that would cause his rejection by a veterinary surg-eon, 

 stands his work without lameness. Horses with exceedingly 

 Large spavins, are often seen that are only slightly lame, or 

 that merely have a stiffness in their gait at first starting, but 

 which gradually goes off after a little motion ; while others, 

 with the bony tumor comparatively small, have the lameness 

 so great as to destroy the usefulness of the horse. There is 

 always this peculiarity in the lameness of spavin, that it abates, 

 and sometimes disappears, on exercise ; and, therefore, a horse, 

 with regard to which there is any suspicion of this affection, 

 should be examined when first in the morning it is taken from 

 the stable. 



If the spavin continues to increase, the bony deposit first 

 spreads over the lower wedge-bones, then the larger wedge- 

 bones, and even to the cuboid bones on the other side, [see 

 jFig. 45.] Up to this point, it may not produce much lameness, 

 because there is very little motion in these parts of the joint. 

 But when it extends to the union of the tibia and astragalus, 

 in which is the chief motion of the hock, the lameness becomes 

 severe, and the horse becomes nearly or quite useless. 



Spavined horses are generally capable of slow work and often 

 improve on the farm. For fast work, and for work that must 

 be regularly performed, spavined horses are not well calculated ; 

 for this lameness behind produces great difficulty in rising, and 

 the consciousness that he will not be able to rise without painful 

 effort occasionally prevents the horse from lying down at all ; 

 and the animal that cannot rest well cannot long travel far or 

 fast. 



The treatment of spavin is simple enough, but far from being 

 always efiectual. The owner of the horse will neither consult 

 his own interest, nor the dictates of humanity, if he sufiers the 

 chisel and mallet, or the gimlet, or the pointed iron, or arse- 

 nic, to be used ; yet measures of considerable severity must be 

 resorted to. Repeated blisters will usually cause either the 

 absorption of the bony deposit, or the abatement or removal of 

 the inflammation of the ligaments, or, as a last resource, the 

 heated iron may be appHed.^ 



* Note hy Mr. Spooner. — Bone spavin, as stated in the text, is one of 

 the most serious by which the horse is affected. In the majoiity of cases 

 it must be confessed that treatment does not succeed*in removing lameness 

 When the disease is a simple ossification, on or below the small bones of 

 the hock, the lameness may generally be removed ; but it is more fre- 

 quently the case that the disease extends itself between the small bones 

 of the hock, causing ulceration of the synovial membrane and cartilage 

 forming the articulating surfaces, and even extending to the substance of 



