312 PARTICULAR LAMENESSES. 



high-heeled shoe, and pressure by a spring truss, are the most 

 effective appliances. Some recommend puncturing the sac. This 

 I have performed in some cases with satisfactory results ; but as 

 a rule I think the operation should be avoided. The method of 

 puncturing the bursa subcutaneously, by making a very small 

 incision and drawing out the fluid with a syphon, is useless, the 

 sac becoming quite full again in the course of a few hours. If a 

 puncture is to be made at all, it should be at the bottom of the 

 swelling, sufficiently large to allow the complete removal of 

 the fluid ; and it should remain open for some days. No fear 

 need be entertained, although signs of pain and fever may ensue, 

 as an open bursa is not so serious as an open joint. 



After the sac is emptied, a weak solution of sulphate of zinc 

 or dilute tincture of iodine may be injected ; the walls of the 

 sac brought into apposition by firm but careful bandaging; a 

 flannel bandage, owing to its elasticity, being the best of all 



CAPPED HOCK. 



The gastrocnemius internus muscle terminates about half-way 

 down the tibia in a strong tendon ; it is at first within the tendon 

 of the gastrocnemius externus ; winds round its side ; then 

 surmounts it, and, on reaching the point of the os calcis, forms a 

 cap, giving off slips of insertion from each side to the bpne. A 

 large synovial bursa exists between the tendons here, and is 

 one of the seats of capped hock. 



There are two forms of capped hock — the synovial and the 

 serous. 



Synovial Capped Hoch appears as a tense fluctuating swelling, 

 situated upon both sides of the point of the hock ; the tendon, 

 being posterior to the bursa, prevents the swelling of the internus 

 from bulging backwards. It is an unsoundness, causing lame- 

 ness, and sometimes the formation of abscesses from caries or 

 necrosis of the summit of the os calcis. — (See Photo-lithograph, 

 Plate I., Fig. 3.) 



The Serous Cajoped Hock, a serous abscess caused by pressure 

 or violence, is situated in the areolar tissue, between the tendon 

 of the gastrocnemius internus and skin. 



It is not an unsoundness, if not causing lameness, and arises 

 generally from the horse striking the point of his hock against 



