WIND-GALLS 99 



WIND-GALLS. 



Symptoms. — Wind-galls more frequently occur in 

 the fore than in the hind legs. These are known by 

 the puffy appearance so frequently notic £d about the 

 legs of horses which have been hard worked (see 

 Plate VI, fig. 8, c). There is a beautiful provision in 

 Nature, in placing little bags between the tendons and 

 other parts where they are exposed to pressure or 

 friction. These sacs contain a mucous fluid of a 

 similar kind to the synovia, or joint-oil which oozes from 

 the bags and lubricates the tendons of the muscles. 

 In consequence of violent action and straining the 

 tendons, these bags get injured, become infiamed, 

 swollen, and hard, the tendons being generally in- 

 serted near the joints, where there is more pressure 

 and motion, and consequently these bags are more 

 liable to injury. They become inflamed, and during 

 this state the horse is generally lame to a greater or 

 less degree. However, unless these sacs attain a very 

 large size, the horse cannot be reckoned unsound, as 

 few are entirely free from wind-galls, — which appella- 

 tion they acquired from the fancy that they contained 

 wind. It was an old practice to cut or probe them, so 

 that the air might escape. This has, in many in- 

 stances, produced violent inflammation, and has been 

 the death of many fine horses. 



Remedies. — Unless wind-galls are large and inter- 

 fere with the actions of the leg, we would recommend 

 that no treatment should be attempted. The first 

 appliance to a large wind-gall should be a bandage or 

 roller of flannel, and under it, immediately over the 

 swollen parts, a soft pad should be introduced, and 

 firmly bound down. The bandage should be wetted 

 with the same kind of lotion recommended in sprain of 



