98 THE HOCK. 



swelling perceptible to the eye : but this is quite 

 erroneous, for as bone grows very slowly, and 

 as, in this case, inflammation and pain are at first 

 necessarily combined with, and must even precede, 

 the formation of the bony tumour, it follows, 

 that we must have lameness, long- before we are 

 informed of the cause by external enlargement. 

 The horse with spavin, however, is, in almost 

 every case, lame from the commencement of the 

 disease, till the hock is enlarged : and then the 

 lameness subsides into stijffness : and then, but 

 not before, the horse is offered for sale : so that 

 the purchaser will not find it a very difficult 

 matter to guard against spavin. It makes its 

 appearance on the inside of the leg, and most 

 commonly at that part where the hock joint 

 terminates and the leg begins. In some cases, 

 both hocks are affected: but, at a rough guess, 

 I would say, both are not equally so in more 

 than one case out of a hundred ; and it is the 

 inequality of the enlargement that will enable 

 the examiner to decide whether the hock be 

 naturally large, or increased in size by disease. 

 Let the eye and the hand be both used in com- 

 paring the hocks with each other ; and look at 



