244 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



tion. This condition may therefore result as a sequence to congeni- 

 tal malformation, as in the case of horses that are saber-legged. It 

 often occurs, also, as the result of violent efforts, of heavy pulling, of 

 high jumping, or of slipping ; in a word, it may result from any of 

 the causes heretofore considered as instrumental in producing 

 lacerations of muscular, tendinous, or ligamentous structure. 



Symptoms. A hock affected with curb, will, at the outset, pre- 

 sent a swelling more or less diffuse on its posterior portion, with vary- 

 ing degrees of heat and soreness, and these will be accompanied by 

 lameness of a permanent character. At a later period, however, the 

 swell will become better defined, the deformity more character- 

 istic, the prominent curved line readily detected, and the thickness 

 o'f the infiltrated tissue easily determined by the fingers. At this 

 time, also, there may be a condition of lameness, varying in degree, 

 while at others, again, the irregularity of action at the hock will be 

 so slight as to escape detection, the animal betraying no appearance 

 of its existence. 



A curb constitutes, by a strict construction of the term, an un- 

 Boundness. since the hock thus affected is less able to endure severe 

 labor, ana is more liable to give way with the slightest effort. And 

 yet the prognosis of a curb can not be considered to be serious, since 

 it generally yields to treatment, or at least the lameness it may oc- 

 casion is generally easily relieved, though the loss of contour caused 

 by the bulging will always constitute a blemish. 



Treatment. On the first appearance of the curb, when it ex- 

 hibits the signs of acute inflammation, the first indication is to sub- 

 due this by the use of cold applications as intermittent or constant 

 irrigation or an ice poultice; but when these have exhausted their 

 effect and the swelling has assumed better defined boundaries, and 

 the infiltration of the tendons or of the ligaments is all that remains 

 of a morbid state, then every effort must be directed to the object 

 of effecting its absorption and reducing its dimensions by pressure 

 and other methods. The medicaments most to be trusted are blisters 

 of cantharides and frictions with ointments of iodine, or, preferably, 

 biniodide of mercury. Mercurial agents alone, by their therapeutic 

 properties or by means of the artificial bandages which they furnish 

 by the incrustations when their vesicatory effects are exhausted, 

 will give good results in some instances by a single application, and 

 often by repeated applications. The use of the firing iron must, 

 however, be frequently resorted to, either to remove the lameness or 

 to stimulate the absorption. We believe that its early application 

 ought to be resorted to in preference to waiting until the exudation 

 is firmly organized. Firing in dull points or in line will prove as 

 beneficial in curb as in any other disease of a similar nature. 



LACERATED TENDONS. 



This form of injury, whether of a simple or of a compound 

 character, may become a lesion of a very serious nature, and will 

 usually require long and careful treatment, which may yet prove un- 

 availing in consequence either of the intrinsically fatal character of 



