SPRAINS OF TENDONS, LIGAMENTS AND MUSCLES. 293 



and still are sound. No ! the proper thing is to be able to recog- 

 nize when Q. spavin is present, and this we affirm every practitioner 

 should be able to determine, and that without making a mistake. 

 In dealing with spavins the most important matter for the owner 

 to do is to watch for the first indications with a view to the pre- 

 vention of further development; inflammation of the bones and 

 their interosseous ligaments is the first process; an animal that is 

 the subject of this inflammatory process must necessarily experi- 

 ence tenderness, heat and actual pain in the parts, which is ex- 

 hibited either by positive lameness or a tendency to ease the hock 

 by flexing it and resting the toe on the ground; when valuable 

 young horses, between the ages of three and six years, are noticed 

 frequently resting one leg in this way the hock should be carefully 

 examined for palpable heat and the joint should be flexed and ex- 

 tended to determine if there is any tenderness; if these are present 

 it would certainly be acting on the s^feside to suspect an incipient 

 spavin; the treatment should be the same as that already recom- 

 mended for the early stages of coming exo.stosis, namely, hot 

 fomentations and the application of a lotion of Symphytum by 

 means of hand-rubbing and a compress, at the same time admin- 

 istering the remedy internally ; there is good reason to believe that 

 this line of treatment will allay the inflammatory action and arrest 

 the formation of the spavin. In the case of a fully formed spavin 

 that is the cause of lameness and requires treatment we strongly 

 recommend pyro-puncture with a fine iron, great care being ob- 

 served not to insert the in.strument too near the articulation or 

 serious and perhaps permanent damage would be effected. 



There is one man in England who claims the possession of 

 knowledge by which he is enabled to remove a spavin, but the pro- 

 cess is a secret one, nor do we, in our ignorance, see how such a 

 process can be affected without causing an unwarrantable amount 

 of pain and long suffering. 



Thoroughpin is another unsightly condition that frequently 

 exists without producing lameness; it is due to the formation of 

 an unnecessarily large quantity of fluid in the sheath of the flexor 

 muscle of the foot, called the "' perforans;''' the fluid by pressure 

 can be felt to move from inside to outside of the hock, at the back 

 part thereof, hence the designation '' thoroughpin y treatment 

 such as that recommended for curb will generally serve to disperse 



