ii6 CAUSES OF UNSOUNDNESS. 



The small bones of the hock are known as the 

 scaphoid ; the cuneiform magnum ; and the 

 cuneiform parvum, together with a small brick- 

 shaped bone, known as the cuboid. 



In a hock that is well formed and clean— i.e., free 

 from an excess of tissue beneath the skin, these 

 various prominences can be seen and felt in outhne 

 through the skin. Strictly speaking, there are 

 three joints constituting the hock, namely, that 

 between the lower end of the second thigh bone 

 and the astragalus ; the second one, between the 

 individual bones of the hock ; and the third one, 

 between the latter and the upper end of the cannon 

 bone. The bones, ligaments, and the lubricating 

 sheaths entering into the formation of the hock, 

 as well as that of the skin covering it, are all Hable 

 to participate in the various diseases affecting this 

 region, over which so much litigation has arisen, 

 and will continue to arise. Amongst the numerous 

 diseases affecting the hock the commonest of all 

 is that known under the title of 



Bone-spavin. 



This disease makes its appearance at the inner 

 surface of the hock just at its junction with the 

 head of the cannon bone, and is denoted by a 



