174 CURB— WHAT, AND HOW CURED. 



•uperincumbent weight, by pushing him hanl in his work, as well as by work 

 inw young cattle at plough, a practice some breeders of heavy horses inju- 

 diciously adopt, these bones get strained asunder, as it were, and inflammation 

 takes place. 



As almost every one knows, by misusing young colts in the manner just de- 

 scribed, they become cat-hammed, if they do not derive that particular mal-con- 

 formation from parentage, as before hinted (p. 164,) and is more scientifically 

 accounted for in the first chapter of Book I. Generally it happens that 

 horses so formed are good, easy goers, brisk and active ; but though well adapt- 

 ed for light weights, are utterly incapacitated from undertaking horseman's 

 weight at speed, until they are full mouthetl. If heavily mounted, or hard 

 driv'en earlier in Ufe, they invariably throw out a curb or spavin. The shoe- 

 incr-smith frequently contributes to the contraction of bone-spavin without 

 knowing it, by turning up the heels of his shoes in frosty weather unevenly. 

 In the same manner, when the inside heel preserves its roughness longer than 

 the outer heel, it is clear that this last must bear lowest, and further contribute 

 to the evil strain that cat-hammed horses are ever liable to, about the hock. 

 Cow-houghed is but another name for the same mal-conformation. 



Symptoms. — Inflammation is scarcely perceptible at first, or any other 

 symptom; and as it is vitally necessary that we should apply the remedy thus 

 early, we must employ the discriminating test described at page 171. K the 

 existence of adhesion, which constitutes bone-spavin, be not discovered in the 

 manner proposed, the disorder proceeds until it may be perceived upon com- 

 paring the hocks together. At first, the inflammation is but trivial, when the 

 horse is also lamest ; but when time has been allowed to unite the bone, the 

 heat and enlargement increase, and the spavin is incurable, but the lameness 

 is less. 



Cure. — At the commencement only it may Imj effected easily, by simply 

 blistering the part all round the hough, in such a manner as to raise the blistei 

 to a good extent. Generally, in bad cases it would be advisable to repeat the 

 blister; in which event let the former one be first well cleansed away with 

 Goulard's extract, diluted with water. But should the duration of lameness 

 and degree of swelling give reason for apprehending that the adhesion is un 

 commonly extensive, let the part be fired previously to blistering. Be careful 

 to keep the horse's head up whilst the blister is operating, and subsequently 

 dress with hog's lard ; but do not use any greasy applications previously to 

 blistering, as these only tend to harden the skin, and so obstruct the perspira* 

 tion and absorption which promote the cure. 



Making the shoe thin on the outside at the heel relieves the pressure when 

 the horse is worked : the contrary form of shoe is conducive to all diseases of 

 the leg bones. 



CURB. 



Cause. — Inflammation in the sheath of the back sinew (6, fig. 2, plate 2,) a 

 little below the point of the hock, where the sheath is attached to the muscle. 

 Like spavin, curb mostly affects young horses of the cpw-hocked built, whose 

 legs stand too much under the body, and which have been worked prema- 

 turely hard, as in cases of bone-spavin. Indeed, the two diseases bear so 

 much resemblance to each other, in cause and symptoms, except only as to 

 situation, that I ff ol no difficulty in referring the reader to the preceding page 

 for my description of these, only premising that he can not discover the coming 

 of a curb, by any other means than lameness, and comparing the two legs to 

 each other sidewise, when a diffused swelling may be seen, but very little heal 

 fclt^ by reasQn of the disorder being deep-seated 



