BONE-SPAVIN. 139 



accompany spavin, even when the small bones of the joint 

 are affected. From which also it will be seen that there is 

 a manifest advantage in each of these bones being provided 

 with a separate ligament and membrane, and thus, as it 

 were, constituting so many separate joints ; so that any of 

 them may sustain injury, without its being communicated 

 to the rest. It is not uncommon for the bony deposit 

 continuing to enlarge and embracing the second series of 

 bones, enveloping the larger wedge-bones, d, and extending 

 to the cube-bones on the other side ; and even then the 

 lameness may not be so great as to prove very injurious, for 

 this reason, that the motion of these two joints, or rather 

 parts of the joint, is small ; but when it reaches to the 

 union of the tibia, b, and the astragalus, c ; when the joint 

 in which the principal motion of the joint is affected, then 

 the lameness is of a very serious kind, and the horse may 

 be considered as no longer fit for use. 



Although spavin unfits horses for active employment, 

 yet for farm purposes they need not be rejected, especially 

 by those who possess limited farms ; for slow draught and 

 Qther agricultural purposes they will be found quite useful, 

 and from this sort of work, in which quick motion is not 

 required, the horse may improve, and even the bony matter 

 may be absorbed to a considerable extent. 



One strong reason why spavined horses do not improve, 

 is that they seldom lie down, as they are conscious that 

 they will suffer considerable pain in the act of rising again ; 

 so that the continual pressure and weight of the body upon 

 the limb, keeps alive the exciting cause. 



There is sometimes an enlargement of the heads of the 

 bones of the leg, which may be mistaken for spavin. 



Remedies. — Spavin can only be successfully treated, if at 

 all, by blisters frequently repeated, which may induce an 



