BONE-SPAVIN, RING-BONE, &C. 173 



CHAP. XXXVI. 



OF THE BONE-SPAVIN, RING-BONE, AND SPLINTS'. 



It will be needless to say much on the nature 

 of these complaints, as they are so well known to 

 every person who keeps horses. 



The bone-spavin is a hard excrescence, or swell- 

 ing, growing on the inside of the hock ; such as 

 are on the lower part of the hock seldom give the 

 animal so much pain as those which are seated 

 more deeply in the middle of the joint. Ring- 

 bones are hard swellings on the lower part of the 

 pastern, near the coronet, and in general, extend 

 round the fore part of the foot, in form of a ring ; 

 though it sometimes only appears on each side a 

 little above the coronet, and then is termed splin- 

 ters of a ring-bone. This disease generally takes 

 its rise from the joining of the great and little pas- 

 tern bones, which causes a stiffness in the motion 

 of the joint. Spavins and ring-bones, in general, 

 are occasioned by strains ; but in some instances, 

 they appear to be hereditary. The former are 

 likewise frequently occasioned by a blow ; and the 



