DISEASES OF THE BONES. 95 



called the coffin-joint. This bone is very soft, and filled 

 with a multitude of little interstices, through which pass 

 the blood-vessels of the feet. It is very subject to both dis- 

 ease and external injury. 



When it receives the latter, the lubricating fluid, or syn- 

 ovia, of the coffin-joint becomes diseased, and, settling down 

 into the spongy bone below, a bony enlargement is the con- 

 sequence. At once the foot begins to show a gradually-in- 

 creasing lump, or bunch, at the point where the hair and 

 hoof join. Its development is chiefly laterally, and thus it 

 finally encircles the entire joint ; hence the term ring-bone. 



What is known as club-foot is simply ring-bone at its 

 worst stage. In this condition, the horse is nearly useless 

 for general purposes, while the hope of a cure is so remote 

 that he is hardly worth any pains at the practitioner's hands. 



. TREATMENT. 



Bing-bone admits of a cure only in its earlier stages. Even 

 then it is effected with difficulty, and can seldom be relied 

 upon as permanent, as a strain or a contusion may bring 

 back the affiiction at any time. Still, there is always a fair 

 prospect, at this period of the disease, that the horse may be 

 made fit for some years of moderate service. 



The treatment must be the same as for spavin in every 

 particular. Above all, the horse must have a long continu- 

 ance of unbroken rest. 



STIFLE. 



lS[o joint in the horse's structure but is liable to strains, 

 bruises, and similar hurts, and, although one of the strongest 

 in his whole frame- work, the stifle-joint forms no exception 

 to the general rule. It is sometimes badly wrenched, gener- 

 ally from the leg becoming fastened or hung in a false posi- 

 tion. Swelling, inflammation, and the most painful lameness 

 succeed. In some parts of the country this is popularly called 

 stifle, by which it is meant that the patella — the small bone 

 of the joint, corresponding to the knee-pan in man — has been 

 dislocated. 



t% 



