SPAVIN. 



253 



influence. When a horse is " tied in below the hock " (namely, 

 when the width of the leg just below the hock, viewed sideways, 

 is small in comparison to the width of the fetlock), the bones of 

 the hock will present a comparatively small surface over which 

 compression has to be distributed. Also, '' cow-hocked " horses 

 (the points of whose hocks are brought comparatively close to- 

 gether) are said to be predisposed to spavin ; the probable reason 

 being that the more the points of the hock are turned in, the 

 more the toes are turned out, and, consequently, the more weight 



Fig. 95. — Clean hock. 



Fig. 96.— Slight spavin. 



Fig. 97. — Well-marked 

 spavin. 



is thrown on the inside of the leg. Fourth, impetuosity is evi- 

 dently a predisposing cause. Fifth, keeping the slope of the hind 

 feet at too acute an angle appears to predispose the animal to 

 spavin, apparently on account of the mechanical disadvantage 

 at which it places the muscles that straighten the hock. Dr. 

 Eberlein ("Journal of Comp. Path.", Sept. 1898) tells us that 

 " Glemm has experimentally shown that excessive cutting away of 

 the heels in shoeing is specially injurious in this way. Out of 

 fifteen horses that were shod with low heels, nine became affected 

 with spavin in from one to two months. I have myself had the 

 opportunity to verify Glemm's views, and have obtained similar 

 results. Peters observed that spavin is specially frequent on soft 

 boggy land and uneven pavement." 



