360 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



ning of the trouble, contains a bloody serosity which soon becomes 

 strictly serum, and this, through the influence of an acute inflamma- 

 tory action, is liable to undergo a change which converts it into the 

 usual purulent product of suppuration. 



The external appearance ought to be sufficient to determine the 

 diagnosis, but there are a few signs which may contribute toward a 

 nicer identification of the lesion. The capped hock, whether under 

 the appearance of an acute edematous swelling, or as a bloody serous 

 collection, or as a simple serous cyst, does not give rise to any remark- 

 able local manifestation other than such as have already passed under 

 our survey in considering similar cases, nor will it be likely to inter- 

 fere with the functions which belong to the member in question, unless 

 it assumes very large dimensions and on each side of the tendons, as 

 well as on the summit of the bone. But if the inflammation is quite 

 high, if suppuration is developing, if there is a true abscess, or and 

 this is a common complication especially when the kicking or rub- 

 bing of the animal is frequently recurring, then, besides the local 

 trouble of the cyst or of the abscess, the bones become diseased and 

 the periosteum inflamed; perhaps the superior ends of the bone 

 and its fibro-cartilage become affected, and a simple lesion or bruise, 

 whatever it may have been, becomes complicated with periostitis and 

 ostitis, and is naturally accompanied with lameness, developed in a 

 greater or less degree, which in some cases may be permanent and 

 in others increased by work. But these complications are not common 

 or frequent. 



Treatment. Capped hocks are in many cases amenable to treat- 

 ment, and yet they often become the opprobrium of the practitioner 

 by remaining, as they frequently do, an eyesore on the top of the hock ; 

 not interfering, it is true, with the work of the horse, but fixing upon 

 him the stigma of what, in human estimation, is a most unreliable and 

 objectionable reputation, to wit, that of being an habitual " kicker," 

 and, worse than all, one that kicks when he receives his provender. 



The maxim that " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure " 

 fits the present case very neatly. A horse whose hocks have a some- 

 what puffy look and whose skin on the front of the hock is loose and 

 flabby, justly subjects himself to a suspicion of his addictedness to 

 this bad habit. But he may easily be either convicted or exonerated 

 a little watching will soon establish the truth. If, then, the verdict 

 is one of conviction, precautions should be immediately adopted 

 against a continuance of the evil. The padding of the sides of the 

 stall with straw mats or mattresses and covering the posts with similar 

 material, in such a manner that no hard surface shall be e'xposed with 

 which to come in contact, will reduce the evil to its minimum. He 

 may jar his frame when he kicks, but even then there will be less 



