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114 now TO BUY A HORSE. 



all. It is sometimes curable by firing and blisterin 

 sometimes utterly incurable. It is always an absolute 

 cause for not purchasing any horse; but not alwaj^s an 

 absolute cause for selling an otherwise good horse. We 

 once drove a grey grandson of ^lessenger, for five years, 

 who had a very large bone spavin in the ver\^ worst place. 

 lie invariably took his three first steps from a stationary 

 position, however momentary the duration of the time he 

 had been at rest, like a dead-lame horse, bnt tlien went as 

 sound as any other horse in the world, until he again stood 

 still. No day was too long for him, nor was every day in 

 a month too often. But, after all, he was not the rule, but 

 the exception which proves the rule. 



Bog spavin is the extravasation of the synovial fluid, 

 which lubricates the joint, and its collection in a sac in the 

 inward and lower anterior portion of the hock joint, some- 

 what within and before the point at which the bone spavin 

 occurs. It may be seen partially in profile, but can be felt 

 readily by pressure of the hand, under which it fluctuates. 



Blood spavin is a similar extravasation of artei-ial blood 

 and formation, nearly in the same place, of a sort of 

 aneurismal sac. It is detected as before, and may be dis- 

 tinguished from the bog spavin by the fact that it pulsates. 

 Both these spavins are incurable under any ordinary treat- 

 ment ; the former absolutely so. It is possible that tying 

 the artery might reduce the latter, but we are not aware 

 that the operation has ever been tried. 



Thoroughpin is a similar extravasation of the synovial 

 fluid, and the formation of a sac, runnino- between the 

 bones of the hock joint, not from the front backward, but 

 across the joint, from side to side. It can be easily de- 

 tected by the fingers, under the pressure of which the 

 fluid can be felt to ebb and flow from side to side. 

 Thoroughpin, like the kindred spavins, is incurable. It 



