292 -VETERINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



horses for bone spavin when nothing more than big, coarse hocks 

 are present; there is probably more uncertainty, among those who 

 should know what a spavin really is, in determining the actual ex- 

 istence of the exostosis than in fixing upon any other defect to 

 which a horse is liable; and from the great differences of opinion 

 which have and do exist with reference to the fact that has to be fre- 

 quently decided in courts of law, ' ' is there or is thej^e not a spavin,' ' 

 no little discredit has fallen upon the veterinary profession; we 

 have repeatedly seen horses condemned as having spavins that 

 had coarse and large boned hocks, while, on the other hand, a 

 horse with undoubted spavins has been passed sound as though 

 they were not present; we have found no difficulty in determining 

 the presence or absence of spavins, and we consider that every 

 veterinary surgeon of experience should be in a similar position. 

 The question then arises: What is a bo7ie spavin and how may it 

 be detected? A bone spavin is a deposition of formed material, 

 which ultimately calcifies and becomes hard and bone-like, on the 

 inside of the hock at its lower point, and is due to an inflamma- 

 tion of the bones which go to form that part of the hock, viz., 

 the cuneiform and the metatarsal; after the inflammation subsides 

 and the formed material has become calcified the articulation 

 formed by the before named bones is united, or as it is technically 

 termed '' anchylosed,'" zwA M\^ spavin is plainly discernible to the 

 eye and forms a distinct prominence of greater or less size that is 

 'readily capable of detection by means of touch; a hock that is free 

 from spavin has a smooth surface, and the various bones that enter 

 into its composition can be felt in proper api)Osition; the ir- 

 regularities of surface which are present in a spavined hock can- 

 not be discovered in a hock that is sound; the hocks of some 

 horses are very full and the individual bones round and large, but 

 when carefully examined the surface will be smooth and even; 

 hence this normal fullness of the bones should not be, mistaken for 

 an abnormal and diseased condition; indeed, a horse with a large, 

 bold or even coarse hock will stand far more work, strain and con- 

 cussion than will the narrow, small joint. It has been asserted 

 that if both hocks are alike in size and the action of the horse is 

 good that spavins are not present, bub we do not consider this a 

 satisfactory proof either way, as both hocks may be spavined; 

 again, some horses have one hock naturally larger than the other 



