388 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
logical lesions with allied phenomena, requiring about the same treat- 
ment and often followed by the same results, to wit, a blemish which 
may not only subject the animal to a suspicion of unsoundness, but 
in some special circumstances may interfere with his ability to labor. 
It is known as “ interfering ” when the location of the trouble is the 
inside of the fetlock of either the fore or hind leg. It is called’ 
“speedy cut”? when it occurs on the inside of the fore leg, a little 
below the knee, at the point of contact of that joint with the cannon. 
It is always the result of a blow, self-inflicted, of, varying severity, 
and giving rise to various lesions. (See also p. 399.) 
Symptoms.—At times the injury is too slight to be seriously 
noticed, the hair being scarcely cut and the skin unmarked. At other 
times the skin will be cut through, partly or wholly, and it may for 
the time cause sufficient pain to check the motion of the animal and 
induce him to suspened his labor through his inability to use the 
wounded limb, traveling meanwhile for a short space on three legs 
only. Sometimes-a single blow will suffice, or again there will be a 
repetition of lighter strokes. In the latter case the parts will become 
much swollen, hot, and so painful to the touch that the motion of 
the knee or the fetlock will be sufficiently disturbed to cause lame- 
ness of a degree of severity corresponding to that of the lesion. Fol- 
lowing the subsidence of this diffused and edematous swelling is 
sometimes the formation of a tumor, either at the knee or the fetlock. 
This may be soft at first or become so by degrees, with fluctuation, 
its contents being at first extravasted blood, and later a serosity; or, 
if there has been a sufficient degree of inflammation, it may become 
suppurative. The result of the fault of interfering may thus be 
exhibited, whether at the knee or at the fetlock, as characterized by 
all the pathological conditions which have appeared as accompani- 
ments of capped knee or capped hock. If, in consequence of the force 
of the blow or blows, the inflammation has been usually severe, a 
mortification of the skin may become one of the consequences, a slough 
taking place, succeeded by a cutaneous ulcer on the inside of the fet- 
lock or when the greater number of the original wounds are inflicted. 
If the interfering has been often repeated it may be followed by 
another condition, which has been considered in our remarks upon 
other affections. It is a plastic exudation or thickening of the parts, 
which are commonly said to have become “callous,” and the effect 
of it is to destroy the regularity of the outlines of the joint to an ex- 
tent which constitutes a serious blemish, which will be permanent, 
and according to the degree of the aberration from the natural and 
symmetrical lines will enevitably depreciate the commercial value of 
the animal. 
An animal in interfering may thus exhibit a range of symptoms 
which from the simplest form of a mere “ touching,” may succes- 
