HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



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morbid action ; but, from the relation of 

 parts, ring-bone, at its forming stage, gives 

 .rise to earlier and greater lameness. At- 

 tention is earlier called to the disease, and 

 treatment is usually sooner applied. Splint 

 may go on to its final stage of bony con- 

 solidation without giving rise to much 

 lameness, and without attracting attention 

 to the diseased part, which may escape 

 observation unless the hand is passed 

 over the small tumor, but in ring-bone 

 usually the lameness appears with inflam- 

 mation, and the earliest effusion over the 

 region calls attention to the seat of the 

 •disease. 



HORSE, Side-bone.— (See Horse,Ring- 



BONE.) 



HORSE, Spavin (Fig. 22).— When it 

 ■consists in the deposit of bony matter 

 about the hock joint, and the consequent 

 cementing together of the tarsal bones, or 

 the destruction of the tarso-metatarsal 

 joint, is a similar disease, having essen- 

 tially the same causes. This form of 

 disease may exist in every degree, from a 

 slight exostosis near the joint to such an 

 amount as will entirely destroy the joint, 

 and so invade the soft tissues that the 

 slightest movement is productive of great 

 suffering. 



lreatment. — Cure or alleviation is pos- 

 sible only in the first stages of the dis- 

 ease, so that on the occurrence of lame- 

 ness for which the cause is not obvious, 

 careful search should be made in the lo- 

 calities in which splint, ring-bone, or 

 spavin may occur. Tenderness, and per- 

 haps swelling, may be detected by care- 

 ful examination. The first requisite is 

 rest. Bathing with warm water should 

 be promptly and perseveringly resorted 

 to. The foot should be put into a buck- 

 et of warm water, which should be ap- 

 plied with a sponge to the locality of in- 

 flammation. Should there be pain, as 

 shown by general uneasiness and con- 

 stant movement of the limb, a poultice 

 should be applied, moistened freely with 

 a mixture composed of equal parts of 

 the tinctures of aconite root, opium, and 

 belladonna. The application of a mix- 

 ture of one part chloroform and two 

 parts sweet oil, may act as a revulsive. 

 Later, when the pain has subsided, the 

 tenderness somewhat abated, and only 

 swelling remains, an ointment of one 

 part of the iodide of lead with eight 



parts of lard will be found useful in re- 

 moving the swelling and remaining en- 

 gorgements of the parts. When put 

 again to use, the animal should be at 

 first gently exercised and brought gradu- 

 ally to his work. 



The abuse in driving, which gives rise 

 to periostitis and the deposition of bone 

 about the joints, may result also in ulcer- 

 ation of the cartilages and bones entering 

 into the composition of the joints The 

 parts most usually affected are the knee, 

 the hock, and the joints of the navicular 

 bone, with the "coronet or coffin bone. 

 The commencement of the disease is an 

 inflammation of the synovial membrane, 

 which lines the 1 bony surfaces between 

 which the motion of the joints occurs. 

 Prolonged lameness follows. Perfect 

 rest at this time with proper treatment 

 may remove the condition, but by neg- 

 lect, and continued use, the disease is 

 readily carried to its advanced stages. 

 The inflammation extends to the cartilages 

 covering the joint surfaces of the bones. 

 The vitality of this tissue is so low that 

 it readily breaks down under the inflam- 

 matory action, and is removed by the ul- 

 cerative process. From this condition 

 perfect recovery is impossible. The best 

 result possible is the formation of a 

 blind spavin, by the cementing of two 

 opposite surfaces of bone by an interme- 

 diate bony deposit. Instead of this, the 

 ulcerative process may extend to the 

 bony tissue itself. 



HORSE, Laminitis.— Of the affections 

 of the soft tissues, perhaps the most com- 

 mon is laminitis. This term applies to 

 inflammation not only of the laminae but 

 of the entire fleshy portion of the foot. 

 It is not always the most readily detect- 

 ed, and in some of its more common and 

 milder forms it entirely escapes notice. 

 The lameness is assigned to the shoulder 

 or some other locality ; but when we re- 

 fer to the position of this tissue, between 

 a dense bone and a dense unyielding 

 horny envelope, and to its use to suspend 

 the bone and consequent entire weight 

 of the animal from the wall, and con- 

 sider that it suffers some degree of pres- 

 sure at every step, we can understand 

 how the slightest morbid condition of the 

 part, the congestion of its vessels, or irri- 

 tation of its nerves may — nay, must — 

 give rise to pain and consequent lame- 



