CHAPTER XXI 



DISEASES OF BONES, JOINTS, TENDONS AND LIGAMENTS 



Quite irrespective of breed and likewise age, sex, etc., 

 horses are very prone to suffer from various inflammatory 

 conditions, either of an acute, sub-acute, or chronic 

 nature, in connection with the bones of the limbs, liga- 

 ments, tendons, joints, etc. Some of these inflammatory 

 conditions are commonly spoken of as hereditary, and 

 nearly all horsemen are acquainted with such troubles as 

 splint, spavin, ring-bone, curb, and so forth. Even the 

 boy in the stable will sometimes point out that " it is a 

 pity this 'ere 'orse 'as spHnt," spavin, or ring-bone, as the 

 case may be. For the stable hands to discover a splint 

 or a spavin, or to imagine they have discovered it in a 

 horse recently purchased by " Master," appears to be 

 something wonderful, and the confidences exchanged 

 with one another are truly astonishing. This is why the 

 stable lad is often regarded as the " stable oracle," with 

 his knowledge " wondrous and true," yet as false as it is 

 misleading. The horse is a wonderful piece of mechanism, 

 every single part of it being adjusted with a precision un- 

 attainable by any artificial means. The bones — their 

 shape and their adjustment ; the joints — their shape and 

 their adjustment ; the muscles — their origin and their 

 insertion, their specialised prolongations as tendons, 

 with adaptation to purpose ; the intricate system of 

 blood-vessels — arteries, veins, and capillaries ; the nervous 

 system — with its central stations and communications 

 to every organ and tissue in the body ; the absorbent 

 system and the scavenger work which it performs ; the 



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