306 CURB. 
shoe should be put on as soon as may he possible; but no treatment can 
hope to restore the horse to its departed agility, or even to fit it for 
ordinary usefulness. However, should it be a stallion or a mare, it may 
be as valuable as a sounder animal for stud purposes. Accidents are 
not hereditary; nor is there any reason why the foal of a horse which 
has broken down should not excel the progeny of a more fortunate sire. 
Among racers, emasculation not being the general practice, this opinion 
may probably save many a favorite from the doom which a disappointed 
proprietor now too often inflicts. 
CURB. 
This is one of the evils which chiefly are the property of the better 
breed of horses. Man delights to show off the animal he is mounted 
upon. Be it male or female, old or young, the equestrian is always 
pleased by the prancing of the horse. The creature seems to compre- 
hend, and to derive gratification from obeying the wish of its superior. 
It enters into the desires of its dictator, without a thought of prudence 
or a care for its personal safety. In hunting or in racing, the simple 
horse more than shares the excitement of its rider, and often encounters 
the severest accidents in consequence of these amusements. That which 
is pastime to man frequently proves death to his amiable servant. Often 
is the animal so maimed by these sports as to necessitate its life being 
taken upon the course or in the field. 
These reflections are very painful to any body who appreciated the 
loving and devoted character of the quadruped. Among 
the least of its sufferings probably may be reckoned curb, 
although the mark of the affection nearly always remains 
for life, and the misfortune sometimes quite disables the 
horse which incurs it. It consists of an enlargement, 
or a gradual bulging out, at the posterior of the hock. 
There is some dispute about the seat of curb. The 
author examined a hock which had chronic curb, and 
found the perforan tendon disorganized. The late Mr. 
W. Percival (the respected originator of the very best work upon the 
horse and its diseases which is extant in the English language) also 
inspected a hock, and found the sheath of the tendon more involved than 
the tendon itself. However, a slight acquaintance with the mystery of 
anatomy assures us that the tendon must have been stretched when the 
sheath was injured, since the first invests and is inserted into the last. 
It is well known that synovial membrane is far more sensitive than ten- 
don. It is therefore probable that the membrane would exhibit disease 
