370 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
An exception is to be made, while considering the subject in con- 
nection with the region now under advisement, in respect to the 
formidable affection known as morbus coxarius, or hip-joint dis- 
ease; and leaving the detail of other lesions to take their place under 
other heads, that relating to the shoulder, for instance, we turn to 
the hip joint and its ailments as the chief subject of our present 
consideration. 
Symptoms.—In investigating for morbus coxarius, let the ob- 
server first examine the lame animal by scanning critically the out- 
lines of the joint and the region adjacent for any difference of size 
or disturbance of symmetry in the parts, any prominence or ro- 
tundity, and on both sides. The lame side will probably be warmer, 
more developed, and fuller, both to the touch and to the eye. Let 
him then grasp the lower part of the leg (as he would in examining 
a case of shoulder lameness) and endeavor to produce excessive pas- 
sive motion. This will probably cause pain when the leg is made to 
assume a given position. Let him push the thigh forcibly against 
the hip bone, and the contact will again probably cause a manifesta- 
tion of pain. If the horse is trotted, the limited action of the hip 
joint proper and the excessive dropping and rising of the hip of the 
opposite side will be easily recognized. Usually the animal does 
not extend the foot so far as customarily and picks it up much 
sooner. 
The abductive or circumflex motion observed in shoulder lameness 
is also present in hip lameness, but under special conditions, and 
the test of the difficulty, either by traveling on soft ground or in 
turning the horse in a circle, may here also contribute to the diag- 
nosis, as in testing for lameness in the anterior extremity. 
Prognosis ——The prognosis of hip lameness is at times quite seri- 
ous, not only on account of the long duration of treatment required 
to effect good results, and because of the character which may be 
assumed by the disease, but of the permanence of the disability re- 
sulting from it. Exostosis and ulcerative arthritis are sequele which 
often resist every form of treatment. 
Treatment.—As before intimated, this is little more than a repeti- 
tion of the remarks upon the lameness of the shoulder, with slight 
modifications occasioned by the muscular structure of the hip, and we 
are limited to the same recommendations of treatment. The ad- 
vantages of rest must be reaffirmed, with local applications, of which, 
however, it may be said that they are more distinctly indicated and 
likely to be more effective in their results than in shoulder lameness, 
and may be more freely employed, whether in the form of liniments, 
blisters (singly or repeated), firing, or setoning. 
