308 OCCULT SPAVIN. 
should any man allow his horse’s hock to be fired for curb. This is 
avery general practice; but the author has never witnessed any good 
result therefrom. He has, however, seen much 
agony ensue upon the custom. The form of the 
marks perpetuated upon the skin of a living creat- 
ure is shown herewith, and were plainly visible in 
the case of curb, which the writer dissected. 
Pulling horses up on their haunches is asserted 
to be a frequent cause of curb; yet curb is not an 
tHE LINES Mape, ror son accident commonly met with among those animials 
RATED Ikow crow tua which drag London carriages. These creatures are 
HOCK OF A HORSE HAVING Heino constantly thrown upon their haunches, it 
being, by ladies, considered ‘very pretty and very 
dashing” to make their servants tug at the reins, regardless of the living 
mouths on which these operate. 
Pulling suddenly up, however 
objectionable for other reasons, 
does not seem to induce curb, 
as London carriage horses are 
all but free from that affection. 
The disease is mainly caused 
by uneven ground wrenching 
the limb; by galloping at the 
topmost speed; by prancing 
when mounted, or by leap- 
ing when after the hounds. 
Perhaps more curbs are to be 
seen in a district on which 
several packs are kept, than in any other part of the country. 
THE SUREST MANNER OF PRODUCING CURB. 
OCCULT SPAVIN. 
The horse is subject to many fearful maladies, but to none which is 
more terrible than ulceration between the bones composing the joints. 
Synovial membrane, cartilage, and bone are without sensation during 
health. The author hopes his reader is not conscious of a bone in his 
body ; it is also wished that he may read with surprise, that the ends of 
bones are covered with cartilage, and that many are invested with syno- 
vial membrane. As has already been observed, these structures in health 
are not sensitive; but when disease starts up, be it only the slightest 
blush of inflammation, the acutest anguish is thereby occasioned. 
Ulceration of the joints is, unfortunately, rather common among 
