1024 



DISEASES OF THE HOCK. 



the opinion that many cases of stringhalt are due, like chorea, to 

 localised sclerosis of the spinal cord. 



Temporary stringhalt accompanies various conditions, but 

 especially injuries to the foot ; Wittlinger saw it after suppuration 

 in the tendon sheath of the fetlock region. 



The course of the disease varies greatly. The symptomatic 

 form occasionally accompanying spavin develops slowly, and may 

 disappear at the same time as the spavin lameness. Stringhalt 

 often develops rapidly after external injury ; some cases appear 

 suddenly without visible cause, and are attributed (in Moller's opinion 



Fig. 546.— Stringhalt, 



erroneously) to exposure to cold. Such cases are probably due to 

 muscular rheumatism, which often produces movements resembling 

 stringhalt. 



Prognosis is uncertain. The most favourable cases are those of 

 recent origin, or in which the symptoms are intermittent, or have a 

 visible cause ; such often cease as soon as the local mischief dis- 

 appears. In symptomatic stringhalt, the prognosis chiefly depends 

 on the nature of the primary disease, though it should not be forgotten 

 that the interference with movement sometimes becomes permanent. 

 Fortunately stringhalt is more unsightly than harmful. Very rarely 

 does the disease interfere with work. In the absence of apparent 

 cause, prognosis is uncertain, because it is never possible to say 

 whether the methods of treatment at present known may or may not 

 be successful, and treatment, therefore becomes mainly experimental. 



