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the frame wliich belongs to them. This results in another trouble, that 

 of being unable to keep permanently upright. He is apt to fall on his. 

 knees, and by this act becomes presently a sufferer from the lesion 

 known by the term of brolcen Icnees. 



Whatever may be the originating cause of this imperfection it de- 

 tracts very largely from the usefulness and value of a horse, disqualify- 

 ing him for ordinary labor and wholly unfitting him for service under 

 the saddle without jeopardizing the safety of his rider. If, however^ 

 the trouble is known from the start, and is not the result of congenital 

 deformity or weakness of the knee joint, or secondary to other diseases^ 

 rest, with fortifying frictions, may sometimes aid in strengthening tho 

 joints ; and the application of blisters on the posterior part of the knee^ 

 from a short distance above to a point a little below the joint, may h& 

 followed by some satisfactory results. But with this trouble, as with 

 knuckling fetlocks, the danger of relapse must not be ignored, but kept 

 in mind as a contingency always liable to occur. 



Curb. — This lesion is the bulging backwards of the posterior part of 

 the hock, where in the normal state there should be a straight line, 

 extending from the upper end of the point of the hock down to the fet- 

 lock. The cause may be a sprain of the tendon which passes on the 

 posterior part of the hock, or of one of its sheaths, or of the strong^ 

 ligament situated on the posterior border of the os calcis. This condi- 

 tion, if not commonly the result of malformation, is often seen in hocks 

 which present the peculiar condition of being curby. It often occurs, 

 also, as the result of violent efforts, of heavy pulling, of high jumping 

 or of slipping; in a word, it may result from any of the causes hereto- 

 fore considered as instrumental in iiroducing lacerations of muscular, 

 tendinous, or ligamentous struture. 



A hock affected with curb will, at the outset, present a swelling more 

 or less diffuse on its posterior portion, with varying degrees of heat and 

 soreness, and these will be accompanied by lameness of a permanent 

 character. At a later period, however, the swelling will become better 

 defined, the deformity more characteristic, the prominent curved line 

 readily detected, and the thickness of the infiltrated tissue easily de- 

 termined by the fingers. At this time, also, there may be a condition 

 of lameness, varying in degree: while at others, again, the irregularity 

 of action at the hock will be so slight as to escape attention, the animal 

 betraying no appearance of its existence. 



A curb constitutes, by a strict construction of the term, an "un- 

 soundness," since the hock thus affected is less able to endure severe 

 labor, and is more liable to give way with the slightest effort. And yet 

 the prognosis of a curb can not be considered to be serious, since it 

 generally yields to treatment, or at least the lameness it may occasion 

 is generally easily relieved, though the loss of contour caused by the 

 bulging will always constitute a blemish to the eye. 



On the first appearance of a curb, when it exhibits the signs of an 



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