296 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



temporaiy cjuict of a few days. In all stages and conditions of the 

 disease, whether the spavin is nothing more than a simple exostosis, or 

 whether accompanied by the complication of arthritis, there must be 

 a total suspension of effort until the danger is over. Less than a 

 month's quiet ought not to be thought of — the longer the better. 



Good results ma^^ also be expected from local applications. The 

 various lotions which cool the parts, the astringents which lower the 

 tension of the blood vessels, the tepid fomentations which accelerate 

 the circulation in the engorged capillaries, the liniments of various 

 composition, the stimulants, the opiate anodynes, the sedative prepa- 

 rations of aconite, the alterative frictions of iodine — all these are 

 recommended and prescribed by one or another. We prefer counter- 

 irritants, for the simple reason, among many others, that they tend 

 by the promptness of their action to prevent the formation of the 

 bony deposits. The lameness will often yield to the blistering action 

 of cantharides, in the form of ointment or liniment, and to the alter- 

 ative preparations of iodine or mercurj'. And if the owner of a 

 "spavined" horse really succeeds in removing the lameness, he has 

 accomplished all that he is justified in hoping for; beyond this let him 

 be well persuaded that a "cure" is impossible. 



For this reason, moreover, he will do well to be on his guard 

 against the patented "cures "which the traveling horse doctor may 

 urge upon him, and v>athhold his faith from the circular of the agent 

 who will deluge him with references and certificates. It is possible 

 that nostrums ma}" in some exceptional instances prove serviceable, 

 but the greater number of them are capable of producing only injuri- 

 ous effects. The removal of the bony tumor can not be accomplished 

 b}' any such means, and if a ti'ial of these unknown compounds should 

 be followed by complications no worse than the establishment of one 

 or more ugh', hairless cicatrices, it will be well for both the horse 

 and his owner. 



Rest and counterirritation, with the proper medicaments, consti- 

 tute, then, the prominent points in the treatment designed for the 

 relief of bone spavin. Yet there are cases in which all the agencies 

 and methods referred to seem to lack effectiveness and fail to produce 

 satisfactory results. Either the rest has been prematureh' inter- 

 rupted or the blisters have failed to rightly modify the serous infil- 

 tration, or the case in hand has some undiscernible characteristics 

 which seem to have rendered the disease neutral to the agencies 

 employed against it. An indication of more energetic means is then 

 presented, and free cauterization with the firing iron becomes 

 necessary. 



At this point a word of explanation in reference to this operation 

 of firing may be appropriate for the satisfaction of any among our 

 readers who may entertain an exaggerated idea of its severity and 

 possible cruelty. 



