490 THE HORSE. 



blistered, and probably fired, but there is no diminution of the 

 lameness until the parts have adapted themselves, after a con- 

 siderable process of time, to the altered duty required of them, 

 and then the lameness materially diminishes, and the horse 

 becomes, to a considerable extent, useful. Curb is an enlarge- 

 ment of the back of the hock, three or four inches below its 

 point. It is a strain of the ligament which there binds the 

 tendons down in their place. The patient should be subjected 

 to almost absolute rest ; a blister should be applied over the back 

 of the tumor, and occasionally firing will be requisite to com- 

 plete the cure. Near the fetlock, and where the tendons are 

 exposed to injury from pressure or friction, little bags or sacs 

 are placed, from which a lubricating mucous fluid constantly 

 escapes. In the violent tasks which the horse occasionally has 

 to perform, these become bruised, inflamed, enlarged and hard- 

 ened, and are termed windgalls. They blemish the horse, but 

 are no cause of lameness after the inflammation has subsided, 

 unless they become very much enlarged. The cautery will then 

 be the best cure. Immediately above the hock, enlargements 

 of a similar nature are sometimes found, and as they project 

 both inwardly and outwardly, they are termed thorough-pins. 

 They are seldom a cause of lameness ; but they indicate great, 

 and perhaps injurious, exertion of the joint. On the inside of 

 the hock a tumor of this kind, but of a more serious nature, is 

 found. It is one of these enlarged mucous bags, but very deeply 

 seated ; and the subcutaneous vein of the hock passing over it, 

 the course of the blood through the vein is thus in some meas- 

 ure arrested, and a portion of the vessel becomes distended. 

 This is a serious evil, since, from the deep-seatedness of the 

 mucous bag, it is almost impossible to act eifectually upon it. 

 It is termed bog or blood spavin. 



The cellular tissue which fills the interstices of the various 

 organs, or enters into their texture, is the seat of many diseases. 

 From the badness of the harness, or the brutality of the attend- 

 ant, the poll of the horse becomes contused. Inflammation is 

 set up— considerable swelling ensues; an ulcerative process 

 soon commences, and chasms and sinuses of the most frightful 

 extent begin to be formed. The withers also are occasion- 

 ally bruised, and the same process takes place there, and 



