68 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



dition. Some horses have naturally the 

 head of the external small metatarsal 

 bone unusually large, and the hock so 

 formed that there is an angle between the 

 large metatarsal bone and the tarsus, 

 leaving a prominence, which, however, is 

 hard and bony, and not soft and elastic, 

 as is the case with curb. Such hocks are 

 generally inclined to throw out curbs; 

 but there are many exceptions, and some 

 of the most suspicious-looking joints have 

 been known to stand sound for years. 

 Curbs are seldom thrown out by very old 

 horses, and usually occur between the 

 commencement of breaking-in and the 

 seventh or eighth year, though they are 

 not unfrequently met with in the younger 

 colt, being occasioned by his gambols 

 over hilly ground. The treatment should 

 at first be studiously confined to a reduc- 

 tion of the inflammation ; any attempt to 

 procure absorption till this is effected 

 being injurious in the extreme. If there 

 is much heat in the part, blood may be 

 taken from the thigh vein, the corn 

 should be removed, and a dose of physic 

 given as soon as practicable. The curb 

 should then be kept wet (by means of a 

 bandage lightly applied) with the lotion 

 recommended for Capped Hocks, and this 

 should be continued until the inflamma- 

 tion is entirely gone. During this treat- 

 ment, in bad cases, a patten shoe should be 

 kept on, so as to keep the hock as straight 

 as possible, and thus take the strain off the 

 ligaments which are affected. After the 

 part has become cool, it may be reduced 

 in size, by causing absorption to be set 

 up ; which is best effected by the appli- 

 cation of mercury and iodine (both of 

 which possess that power), in such a 

 large shape as to cause a blister of the 

 skin. The biniodide of mercury has this 

 double advantage, and there is no appli- 

 cation known to surgery, which will act 

 equally well in effecting the absorption of 

 a curb. It should be applied in the mode 

 recommended (see Horse, Splints), and 

 again rubbed on at an interval of about 

 a week, for two or three times in succes- 

 sion, when it will generally be found that 

 the absorption of the unnatural swelling 

 is effected ; but the ligaments remain as 

 weak as before, and nothing but exercise 

 (not too severe, or it will inflame them 

 again) will strengthen them sufficiently to 

 prevent a return. Friction with the hand, 



aided by a slightly stimulating oil (sucb 

 as neats-foot and turpentine mixed, or 

 neats-foot and oil of origanum, or, in 

 fact, any stimulating essential oil), will 

 tend to strengthen the ligaments, by ex- 

 citing their vessels to throw out addition- 

 al fibres; and in course of time a curb 

 may be considered to be sufficiently re- 

 stored to render it tolerably safe to use 

 the horse again in the same way which 

 originally produced it. 



HORSE, Dislocation. — By dislocation 

 is meant the forcible removal of the end 

 of a bone from the articulating surface 

 which it naturally occupies. In the- 

 horse, from the strength of his ligaments,, 

 the accident is not common ; those that 

 do occur being chiefly in the hip joint, 

 and in that between the patella and the. 

 end of the femur. 



Dislocation of the hip joint is known 

 by the rigidity of the hind leg, which 

 cannot be moved in any direction, and is 

 carried by the horse when he is compelled 

 to attempt to alter his position. There is; 

 a flatness of the haunch below the hip, 

 but the crest of the ilium is still there,, 

 and by this the accident may be diag- 

 nosed from fracture of that part. No 

 treatment is of the slightest avail, as the 

 part cannot be reduced, and the horse is 

 useless except for stud purposes. The: 

 accident is not very common. 



Dislocation of the patella sometimes; 

 becomes habitual, occurring repeatedly 

 in the same horse, apparently from a 

 spasmodic contraction of the external' 

 vastus muscle, which draws the patella 

 outwards, and out of the trochlea formed 

 for it in the lower head of the femur. 

 When the cramp goes off, the patella 

 drops into its place again as soon as the 

 horse moves, and no treatment is re- 

 quired. Occasionally, however, the dis- 

 location is more complete, and nothing 

 but manual dexterity will replace the- 

 bone in its proper situation. Great pain; 

 and uneasiness are expressed, and the op- 

 erator must encircle the haunch with his; 

 arms and lay hold of the patella with 

 both hands, while an assistant drags for- 

 ward the toe, and thus relaxes the mus- 

 cles which are inserted in it. By forcibly 

 driving the patella into its place it may be- 

 lifted over the ridge which it has passed,, 

 and a snap announces the reduction. 



