424 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



rested, and the case treated on the principles before laid 

 down, we shall generally succeed in effecting a cure. 

 When inflammation can be detected at the hock, bleeding 

 from the thigh or saphena vein will effect great relief. 



By violent and long-continued exertion of the hock joint, 

 so great is the consumption of synovia, in consequence of 

 its peculiarly extensive motion, that the synovial membrane 

 becomes at length incapable of supplying any more, and in 

 this exhausted state is itself the subject of friction. The 

 joint then becomes inflamed and ulcerated, and the lameness 

 is " past all surgery." 



CURB. 



This, which is, in fact, extension of the ligaments of the 

 hock, is usually brought on by some violence offered to the 

 sheath of the perforans tendon, passing downwards at the 

 back of the hock. It is often the effect of leaping, rearing, 

 kicking, etc., and as such is usually sudden in its appear- 

 ance. A kind of predisposition to curbs from conformation 

 is apparent in horses with " sickle hocks." For the con- 

 firmation of this fact the public are indebted to the dissec- 

 tions and observations of Mr. W. Percivall, a writer whose 

 diligence and research cannot be too highly commended. 

 The lameness arising from curbs is not, in general, severe ; 

 occasionally, however, it may, and does prove considerable. 

 We have already noticed under Ligaments the ringlike bands 

 which, in the horse, tie down the tendons at the joints; 

 these, by sudden extension, are injured, and hence a curb. 

 An enlargement at the back of the hock, three or four 

 inches from the point, is visible. Horses are found to 

 "throw out" curbs after a severe race, an extraordinary 

 leap, a fast gallop over heavy ground, or a sudden pull up. 



The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflam- 

 mation ; and this will be most readily accomplished by cold 

 evaporating lotions frequently applied to the part. Equal 

 portions of spirit of wine, water, and vinegar, will afford an 

 excellent application. It will be almost impossible to keep 

 a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are considerable, 

 it will be prudent to physic the horse, and to bleed from the 

 subcutaneous vein. Whether the injury be of the annular 

 ligament, or the sheath of the tendon, more active means 

 will be necessary to perfect the cure. Either a liquid 



