OCCULT SPAVIN. 309 
horses; the animal, while being ridden, usually drops suddenly lame. 
It has trodden on a rolling stone, or made a false step, or put its foot 
into some hole, and injured the bone. After a little time, continuance 
of the impaired gait causes the rider to dismount; nothing is to be 
found in the foot, yet the animal is taken to the stable decidedly lame. 
The foot is searched, the limb is examined, pressure, even of the hardest 
THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE LEG IS CAUGHT UP WHEN OCCULT SPAVIN EXISTS; ALSO THE VIEW OF THE FOOT 
PRESENTED TO THE SPECTATOR WHO IS PLACED AT THE SIDE OF THE HORSE, WHEN, DURING THIS DIS- 
EASE, THE LEG IS IN MOTION. 
kind, is endured with provoking complacency. No heat or swelling can 
be discovered; but one thing is to be discerned, the lameness is most 
emphatic. After some time, a peculiarity in the trot may be remarked; 
the lame foot hardly touches the earth before it is snatched up again, 
and that very energetically. Then, closer observation notes that the 
leg, when flexed, is always carried in a direct line, as it is when display- 
ing the symptoms of bony spavin. The hoof is never even partially 
turned outward. Still, neither of these traits is always displayed in 
sO prominent a manner as to force attention; frequently, a conclusion is 
to be drawn only from negative testimony—as the duration of the lame- 
ness, the soundness of the foot, and the perfect condition of the tendons; 
these evidences, taken with the suddenness of the complaint, cause the 
practitioner to comprehend he has a case of occult spavin under treat- 
ment. 
Such is the origin of the disease: some authors assert the synovial 
membrane has been ruptured; some, on the contrary, say the bone has 
been injured. The author, knowing nothing, cannot tell how the disease 
begins, but he knows that from the date of its origin the horse is lame; 
very bad one day, but better, probably, the next. Generally improved 
after rest, and always badly limping subsequent to work; never to be 
depended upon, for proprietors say the animal is sure, wherever its ser- 
vices are required, to be obstinately lame. 
Usually the wretched horse is blistered; setoned; blistered again; 
and, at last, fired. All failing to do the smallest good, the horse is next 
turned out for three months; while at grass, the poor animal, with an 
acutely diseased joint, which is enlarged and stiffened by mistaken treat- 
