Special Injuries of Bones, Joints and Muscles. 455 



Beats of bog and bone spavins and being harmless should 

 not be interfered with. 



cvma. 



This is a swelling, at first soft and doughy, but latoi 

 hard and resistant, in the median line of the limb and 

 just behind the lowest part of the hock joint. It is best 

 seen by standing to one side of the limb and lookiag di- 

 rectly across it. The injury is usually a sprain of the 

 tendon (perforaius) which plays over the front of the hock, 

 though in some bad cases the ligament of the hock be- 

 neath this is iajured as well. There is heat and tender- 

 ness with more or less lameness and a tendency to knuckle 

 forward at the fetlock. Gurby hocks are congenital in 

 some horses and cannot be looked on as disease, but 

 rather distortion. 



Treatment. Keep quiet, put on a high-heeled 'shoe, and 

 apply hot fomentations or cooling lotions imtil inflamma- 

 tion moderates, when an active blister may be applied. 

 In some severe cases this may require to be repeated or 

 resort must be had to the hot iron, but this is altogether 

 exceptional. 



STEING-HALT. 



This is the name given to a habit of suddenly jerking 

 up the hind limb when raised from the ground. It may 

 be shown only in turning from side to side in the stall 

 and in starting, or it may appear in walking and trotting 

 as well. Again, the jerk may be comparatively slight, or 

 60 extreme that the fetlock may even strike the beUy. 

 Its cause is often contraction of the tibial fascia, though it 

 is a reflex nervous act and may perhaps be determined by 

 a variety of local injuries. If any such can be found they 

 should be corrected. Section of the tibial fascia often 

 succeeds. The affection is usually aggravated with time 

 and the animal is sooner fatigued and worn out than other 

 horses. 



