270 



THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



this complex apparatus : the bones, the synovial membranes, the liga- 

 ments, the tendons and their sheaths, and, finally, the subcutaneous 

 tissue. The skin itself is sometimes affected, but only in a mild 

 degree, as compared with the intrinsic pieces of the region. 



The number and gravity of these lesions are readily explained by 

 the important role of the hock in the function of locomotion. 



Following the method of H. Bouley, we will study them by passing 

 from without to within. They exist, in fact, upon the skin, the con- 

 nective tissue, the tendons and their bursse, the bones, and the tibio- 

 tarsal articular synovial membrane. 



a. The Skin. — The point of the hock is quite frequently the seat of denuda- 

 tions and excoriations, whose presence should attract the attention. Such 

 wounds, by reason of their locality, are often an index of the vicious character of 

 the animal, or of his irritable disposition. They result from blows, kicks, kick- 

 ing, and are particularly common in irritable mares which are continually uri- 

 nating. They are sometimes followed by accidental ivhite markings in subjects 

 with dark-colored extremities ; at other times by cicatrices of a variable con- 

 figuration, visible on the outside, covered by the surrounding hairs, or fraudulently 

 hidden by a colored coating. 



Traces of cauterization, in points or in lines, which are seen on blem- 

 ished hocks should induce one to ascertain whether the affection for which the 

 cauterization has been employed has entirely disappeared, or whether the region 

 is improved in a manner to permit of a better utilization of the animal. 



It is in the fold of this hock that the most serious cutaneous lesions are 

 observed. They consist of transverse fissures, known under the vulgar name of 



sallenders, occasioned by external irritation, con- 

 tinual friction, or the application of a vesicant. Pri- 

 marily benign, sallenders soon becomes complicated in 

 consequence of the incessant movements of the parts, 

 and also other causes, such as the humidity, the eleva- 

 tion of the temperature, uncleanness, etc. It then 

 becomes a wound, rebellious to cicatrization, witk 

 thick, indurated borders, covered with scabs, and 

 always very painful during the hot seasons. 



b. Connective Tissue. — The, subcutaneous con- 

 nective tissue at the point of the hock, under the in- 

 fluence of contusions and repeated frictions, becomes 

 infiltrated with serum, and forms at the end of a cer- 

 tain time a soft, fluctuating, sometimes cedematous, 

 non-inflammatory tumor designated under the names 

 capped hock and capellet ^ (Fig. 83). 



Capped hock is nothing else but hygroma of the 

 summit of the calcaneus. Its greatest inconvenience is the deformity of the point 

 of the hock, but it occasions no lameness. It constitutes none the less quite a 



Fig. 83. 



I " The first of these names is without doubt derived from the fact thai the tumor has been 

 compared to a small cap adorning the head of the calcaneus." (H. Bouley.) 



