THE HORSE ^3 



and have at length been obliged to discard the 

 horse for a lameness which, as there is no outward 

 indication oi trouble, it w^as impossible to cure. 

 As a horse should not be bought if it is actually 

 lame, it is unnecessary to enter into the details of 

 this stage of the complaint, but the probable cause 

 of an unnaturally stiff movement w^hen no spavin 

 is visible wall be of value to the reader. As al- 

 ready shown, the hock is normally composed of 

 a number of small bones, which are naturally 

 lubricated by a secretion called synovia, which 

 enables them to play freely over one another. It 

 is possible for a jar or severe strain to set up in- 

 flammation and ultimate bony union between the 

 inner edges of the adjacent bones, or actually be- 

 tween the upper and lower surfaces of any of the 

 superimposed bones. Disease which is deep-seated 

 like this w^ill obviously be undiscoverable to eye 

 or hand, and, once the active stage is past, nothing 

 will be left but a stiffness of gait, w^hich will be 

 apparent to any one acquainted with the correct 

 way in which a horse should move. It is not safe 

 to trust to the actual footmarks made by a horse 

 to decide whether he is bending his hocks in the 

 way he should, because some horses learn to 

 counteract the disability left by liock disease by 



