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But the hock may be spavined, while to all outward observation it 

 still retains its perfect form. With no enlargement tangible to sight 

 or touch the animal may be disabled by an occult spavin, an anchylosis 

 in fact, which has resulted from a union of several of the bones of the 

 joint, and it is only those who are able to realize the importance of its 

 action to the iierfect fulfillment of the function of propulsion b}' the 

 hind leg, who can comprehend the gravity of the only prognosis which 

 can be justified hy the facts of tlie case — a prognosis which is essen- 

 tially a sentence of serious import in respect to the future usefulness 

 and value of the animal. For no disease, if we except those acute 

 inflammatory attacks upon vital organs to whickthe patient succumbs 

 at once, is more destructive to the usefulness and value of a horse 

 than a confirmed spavin. Serious in its inception, serious in its prog- 

 ress, it is an ailment which, when once established, becomes a fixed 

 condition which there is no known means of dislodging. The peri- 

 ostitis, of which it is nearly always a termination, is usually the efiiect 

 of a traumatic cause operating ui)on the complicated structure of the 

 hock, such as a sprain which has torn a ligamentous insertion and 

 lacerated some of its fibers; or a violent eflEort in jumping, galloping, 

 or trotting, to which the victim has been compelled b}' the torture of 

 whip and spur while in use as a gambling implement by a sporting 

 owner, under the pretext of "improving his breed;" or the extra 

 exertion of starting an inordinately heavy load; or an effort to recover 

 his balance from a misstep; or slipping upon an icy surface; or slid- 

 ing with worn shoes upon a bad pavement, and other kindred causes. 

 And we can repeat liere what we have before said concerning bones, 

 in respect to liereditA' as a cause. As to this, our own experience 

 is an authority' -^we do know of equine families in which this con- 

 dition has been transmitted from generation to generation, and ani- 

 mals otherwise of excellent comformation rendered valueless by the 

 misfortune of a congenital spavin. 



The evil is one of the most serious character for other reasons, 

 among which maj^be specified the slowness of its development and 

 the insidiousness of its growth. Certain indefinite x)henomena and 

 alarming changes and incidents furnish usually the only i)ortents of 

 approaching trouble. Among these signs may be mentioned a peculiar 

 posture assumed by the patient while at rest, and becoming at length 

 so habitual that it can not fail to suggest the action of some hidden 

 cause, tending to some undeterminable result. Tlie posture is due to 

 the action of the adductor muscles, the lower part of the leg being 

 carried inward, and the heel of the shoe resting on the toe of the 

 opposite foot. Then an unwillingness may be noticed in the animal 

 to move from one side of the stall to the other. When driven he will 

 travel, but stiffly, and with a sort of sidelong gait between the shafts, 

 and after finishing his task and resting again in his stall, will pose 

 with the toe x>ointing forward, the heel raised, and the hock flexed. 



