THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 425 



blister should be rubbed on the part, consisting of a vinous 

 or turpentine tincture of cantharides, and this daily applied 

 until some considerable swelling takes place, which should 

 be allowed to subside, and then the liniment again resorted 

 to ; or, which is the preferable plan, the hair should be cut 

 off, and the part blistered as soon as the heat has been sub- 

 dued. The blister should be repeated until the horse goes 

 sound, and the swelling has disappeared. In severe cases it 

 may be necessary to fire, but we cannot recommend the 

 indiscriminate recourse to the hot iron in every case of 

 curb, and we would uniformly give a fair trial to milder 

 measures. If the iron be used, the strokes should be in 

 straight lines. 



There are few complaints in which absolute and long- 

 continued rest is more requisite than in curb. An injury so 

 serious leaves the parts very materially weakened, and, if 

 the horse be soon put to work again, the lameness will 

 frequently return. No horse that has had curbs should be 

 put even to ordinary work in less than a month after the 

 apparent cure, and even then he should very gradually 

 resume his former habits. 



A horse with a curb is manifestly unsound. A horse with 

 the vestige of curb we should regard with much suspicion, 

 or generally condemn as unsound; for although the neigh- 

 bouring parts may have accommodated themselves to the 

 slight enlargement that remains, they are not in their 

 natural situation, and have lost a portion of their natural 

 strength. Some latent disposition to relapse may continue, 

 which extraordinary exertion may rouse to action ; and, 

 besides this, it should be remembered that curb is an here- 

 ditary complaint, and that there may be some constitutional 

 weakness of these parts. 



ENLARGEMENT OF THE HOCK JOINT— CAPPED HOCK. 



The point of the hock is sometimes swelled, and a soft 

 fluctuating tumour appears. This is an enlargement of one 

 of the mucous bags which assist the motions of the os 

 calcis, and surround the insertion of the tendons in the 

 point of the hock. It is very unsightly, and sometimes 

 becomes of a great size, particularly when it is occasioned 

 by the practice of kicking ; in which case not only is there 

 an immense increase of the secretion, but the integuments 



