222 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



Symptoms. The evil is one of the most serious character for 

 other reasons, among which may be specified the slowness of its 

 development and the insidiousness of its growth. Certain indefinite 

 phenomena and alarming changes and incidents furnish usually 

 the only portents of approaching trouble. Among these signs may 

 be mentioned a peculiar posture assumed by the patient while at rest, 

 and becoming at length so habitual that it can not fail to suggest 

 the action of some hidden disorder. The posture is due to the action 

 of the adductor muscles, the lower part of the leg being carried in- 

 ward, and the heel of the shoe resting on the toe of the opposite 

 foot. Then an unwillingness may be noticed in the animal to move 

 from one side of the stall to the other. When driven he will travel, 

 but stiffly, and with a sort of sidelong gait 'between the shafts, and 

 after finishing his task and resting again in his stall will pose with 

 the toe pointing forward, the heel raised, and the hock flexed. Some 

 little heat and a considerable amount of inflammation soon appear. 

 The slight lameness which appears when backing out of the stall 

 ceases to be noticeable after a short distance of travel. 



The characteristic lameness or bone spavin, as it affects the 

 motion of the hock joint, presents two aspects. In one class of cases 

 it is most pronounced when the horse is cool, in the other when he is 

 at work. The first is characterized by the fact that when the animal 

 travels the toe first touches the ground, and the heel descends more 

 slowly, the motion of flexion at the hock taking place stiffly, and 

 accompanied by a dropping of the hip on the opposite side. In the 

 other case the peculiarity is that the lameness increases as the horse 

 travels; that when he stops he seeks to favor the lame leg, and when 

 he resumes his work soon after he steps much on his toe, as in the 

 first variety. 



An excellent test for spavin lameness, which may be readily ap- 

 plied, consists in lifting the affected leg off the ground for one or two 

 minutes and holding the foot high so as to flex all the joints. An 

 assistant, with the halter strap in his hand, quickly starts the animal 

 off in a trot, when, if the hock joint is affected, the lameness will be 

 so greatly intensified as to readily lead to a diagnosis. 



Treatment. To consider a hypothetical case : An early discov- 

 ery of lameness has been made ; that is, the existence of an acute in- 

 flammation of periostitis has been detected. The increased tem- 

 perature of the parts has been observed, with the stiffened gait and 

 the characteristic pose of the limb, and the question is proposed for 

 solution, What is to be done? Even with only these comparatively 

 doubtful symptoms -doubtful with the nonexpert we should direct 

 our treatment to the hock in preference to any other joint, since of 

 all the joints of the hind leg it is this which is most liable to be at- 

 tacked, a natural result from its peculiarities of structure and func- 

 tion. And in answer to the query, What is the first treatment in- 

 dicated? We should answer rest emphatically, and as an essential 

 condition, rest. Whether only threatened, suspected, or positively 

 diseased, the animal must be wholly released from labor, and it must 

 be no partial or temporary quiet of a few days. In all stages and 



