256 SOUNDNESS AND UNSOUNDNESS 



Spavin 



According to Mayhew, in his by no means 

 antiquated work entitled "The Illustrated Horse 

 Doctor," pubhshed by W. H. Allen & Co., 

 London, and written from a kindly point of view 

 for amateurs and vets, but essentially a purely 

 veterinary work — 



" Spavin and splint both are the change of 

 ligamentous structure into bone. Spavin occurs 

 at the inner and lower part of the hock ; splint 

 also may be sometimes found at the same part of 

 the knee. The name splint is likewise applied 

 to any bony enlargement upon the shins or below 

 the hocks and the knees. 



" A few hints on this disease, so often spoken 

 about in the hunting-field, stable, at horse- 

 repositories, and in smoking-rooms, yet often not 

 so readily detected by horse-buyers as some of 

 them would be willing to confess — yes, please 

 lay these well to heart and it may save many 

 a 'fiver,' many a 'tenner.' 



" Examine a horse by peeping through his hind- 

 legs, and through his fore-legs afterwards. Get 

 a groom to hold up his fore-leg when you feel 

 for a spavin. Get a vet to show you a spavin, 

 afterwards contrasting that unsound horse with a 

 sound one — who naturally has not a spavin. 



" The sound horse has both legs alike. But 

 the spavined horse has an enlargement — it may 

 be a big one that hardly causes lameness ; it 

 may be a hardly discernible one which causes 

 the horse to run out palpably unsound — though, 



