132 EXAMINATION OF HORSES 
you have two odd hocks. In such cases, however, you 
always have—so far as my experience goes—distinct 
coarseness of the fellow bones on the opposite hock. 
That is to say the horse has coarse, odd hocks, with 
which he neither goes lame nor stiff. Where spavins 
occur on hocks that are coarse to begin with, they must 
be larger than they need be on clean hocks before you 
can say positively that you have spavin; because in the 
one case all is coarseness together, but in the other 
you have the spavin standing out clearly to be defined 
on a clean, flat surface. When we have clean hocks 
to do with, we can easily say for certain that we have 
spavin, however small or however large; the enlarge- 
ment is a sign of itself; but with coarse hocks any 
enlargement not common to the two hocks, unless it is 
very pronounced indeed, is at best only a symptom, and 
as such requires other symptoms of spavin—such as 
lameness or stiffness, or wearing of the toe of the foot 
before you can be sure about it. 
Then, again, suppose your opinion to be asked where 
spavin in some form is known to exist. Of course, in 
this case, your opinion is asked regarding a “sound 
screw,” as these blemished but practically sound horses 
are called. In such cases much depends on the evi- 
dence you may have as to the consolidation of the 
bones involved, and this is more likely to be completed 
if the hock has been fired, or punched and blistered,— 
which latter, I ought to have before told you, frequently 
leaves a mark over the seat of spavin similar to and 
