Williams, Fisher, and Udall: The Spavin Group. 27 
strain or violence to a limb do not as a rule develop this affection 
in the injured member, but while standing upon the other legs, 
develops the disease in them, or, perhaps more closely felated to 
this group than we have yet admitted, the well foot suffers in 
time from sinking of the os pedis, which Dollar translates in 
his version of Mdller as “ standing laminitis.” 
Regardless of the contention that the strain causes the ring- 
bone, navicular disease, spavin, or other similar ailment on the 
supporting limb, it certainly should be more likely to occur in 
the injured member as the result of the greater strain which 
caused the original disaster. 
FauLty SHorinc. Improper shoeing has been blamed for 
well-nigh all the ills to which horse is heir and has fairly won 
enough opprobrium. 
Its effect in inducing this malady should be viewed carefully. 
We all fully realize that careful shoeing, pathological shoeing as 
we sometimes term it, definitely alleviates some cases of ring- 
bone, spavin, or navicular disease, and we may well deduce 
therefrom that improper shoeing has a definite relation to the 
cause, but whether its influence is fundamental or contributory, 
perhaps we will not all agree. Since all stabled horses are shod 
and most horses affected with this disease are stabled, it is very 
easy to blame the shoeing, and since the feeling existing between 
the average practitioner and shoer is frequently not very cordial, 
it is easy to place the blame on the latter. 
We have no data to show that barefooted horses, when kept 
under the same conditions, suffer any less than those which are 
shod. We would not have it understood that we think shoeing 
exerts no influence, but that the relation is contributory or sec- 
ondary and we shall recur to this influence later. 
CoMPRESSION FROM TENDONS. The idea of Dieckerhoff that 
spavin is due to a tendo-vaginitis of the cunean division of the 
flexor metatarsi tendon is supported by the curative results fre- 
quently obtained by cunean tenotomy, but the deduction cannot 
be extended to most other members of the group. The argument 
is perhaps equally good in reference to navicular disease. But 
the influence of the compression of tendons is so limited in its 
scope that it cannot be relied upon as an essential etiological 
factor. We believe, however, and to that extent agree with 
Dieckerhoff, that it does play a very important secondary role 
in the two affections noted, and shall deal further with this 
question below. \ 
