268 THE HORSE. 



out curbs' after a hardly contested race, an extraordinary leap, a severe 

 gallop over heavy ground, or a sudden check in the gallop. Young horses 

 are particularly liable to it, and horses that are cow-hocked (vide cut, p. 262), 

 or whose hocks and legs resemble those of the cow, the hocks being turned 

 inward, and the legs forming a considerable angle outwards. This is in- 

 telligible enough ; for in hocks so formed, the annular ligament must be 

 continually on the stretch to confine the tendon. 



Curbs are generally accompanied by considerable lameness at their first 

 appearance, but the swelling is not always great ; indeed, it sometimes 

 presents so gradual a curve, that it is scarcely perceivable when we stand 

 behind the horse, and both the horseman and the veterinary surgeon have 

 overlooked it. It is best detected by observing the leg sideway. 



The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflammation, and this 

 will be most readily accomplished by cold evaporating lotions, frequently 

 applied to the part. Equal portions of spirit of wine, water, and vinegar, 

 will afford an excellent application. It will be almost impossible to keep 

 a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are considerable, it will be pru- 

 dent to physic the horse, and tQ bleed from the subcutaneous vein, whose 

 course is represented at r, page 259. Whether the injury be of the annular 

 ligament, or the sheath of the tendon, more active means will be necessary 

 to perfect the cure. Either a liquid blister should be rubbed on the part, 

 consisting of a vinous or turpentine tincture of cantharides, and this daily 

 applied until some considerable swelling takes place, which should be 

 allowed to subside, and then the liniment again resorted to ; or, what is the 

 preferable plan, the hair should be cut off, and the part blistered as soon 

 as the heat has been subdued. The blister should be repeated until the 

 horse goes sound, and the swelling has disappeared. In severe cases it 

 may be necessary to fire, but we cannot recommend the indiscriminate 

 recourse to the hot iron in every case of curb, and we would uniformly 

 give a fair trial to milder measures. If the iron be used, the strokes should 

 be in straight lines. 



There are few complaints in which absolute and long-continued rest is 

 more recpiisite, than in curb. An injury so serious leaves the parts very 

 materially weakened, and, if the horse be soon put to work again, the 

 lameness will frequently return. No horse that has had curbs should be 

 put even to ordinary work in less than a month after the apparent cure, 

 and even then he should very gradually resume his former habits. 



A horse with a curb is manifestly unsound. A horse with the vestige 

 of curb we should regard with much suspicion, or generally condemn as 

 unsound ; for although the neighbouring parts may have accommodated 

 themselves to the slight enlargement that remains, they are not m 

 their natural situation, and have lost a portion of their natural strength : 

 some latent disposition to relapse may continue, which extraordinary 

 exertion may rouse to action ; and, beside this, it should be remembered, 

 that curb is an hereditary complaint, and that there may be some constitu- 

 tional weakness of these parts. 



BOG-SPAVIN. 



The hock is plentifully furnished with mucous bags, to lubricate the dif- 

 ferent portions of this complicated joint. Some of these are found on the 

 inside of the joint, which could not be represented in our cut, page 262. 

 From over-exertion of the joint they become inflamed, and considerably 

 enlarged. They are wind-galls of the hock. The subcutaneous vein 

 passes over the inside of the hock, and over some of these enlarged bags, 



