246 SWELLED LEGS. 



In three or four days the heat, which always in the 

 first instance accompanies curb, will probably have 

 subsided, and the lameness almost have disappeared ; 

 but there will remain a slight enlargement of the 

 part. 



Soothing applications are by inflammation indicated, 

 and cold water is not the least operative, and assuredly 

 is the cheapest of all these ; but after the heat and 

 tenderness have disappeared a blister may be bene- 

 ficial. In some cases the enlargement continues in 

 spite of our most energetic endeavours to remove 

 it. It should, however, in all such instances be re- 

 membered that, although the enlargement of curb will 

 occasionally remain for several months in despite of 

 the blister, it disappears as time progresses. Curbs, 

 however, are apt to return if the horse is sent to work 

 too soon ; and it is almost now an established fact, that 

 the predisposition to throw them out is hereditary. 



SWELLED LEGS. 



This is a frequent and a most troublesome com- 

 plaint. The cause is often exceedingly difficult to 

 detect; and the disease becomes so inveterate, that 

 the practitioner has little prospect of completely era- 

 dicating it. 



The fore-legs occasionally enlarge; but oftener, 

 and to a much greater extent, the hinder ones are 

 disposed to increase in size. A horse is sometimes 

 left in perfect health at night ; and is found, on the 

 next morning, with one or both hind legs enormously 

 enlarged. The skin is tense and glistening ; it is hot, 



