362 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



zation — I believe to be the best mode of treatment, and especially 

 when applied early. 



A very satisfactory way to treat these cases is to burst the swelling 

 by pressure from without. A strap or strong linen bandage is placed 

 about the hock pressing on the bursa while the affected leg is on the 

 ground, the other hind foot being lifted up. When the bandage is in 

 place release the leg and the horse will violently flex the bandaged 

 limb and produce pressure on the bursa with consequent bursting and 

 discharging of its contents. 



Whatever treatment may be adopted for capped hock, patience 

 must be one of the ingredients. In these parts absorption is slow and 

 the skin is very thick, and its return to a soft, pliable, natural condi- 

 tion, if effected at all, will only take place after weeks added to other 

 weeks of medical treatment and patient waiting. 



INTEEPEEIN6, AND SPEBDT CUTS. 



These designations belong to certain special injuries of the ex- 

 tremities, produced by similar causes, giving rise to kindred patho- 

 logical lesions with allied phenomena, requiring about the same 

 treatment 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 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 page 373.) 



Symptoms. — ^At times the injury is too slight to be seriously 

 noticed, the hair being scarcely cut and the sMn unmarked. At other 

 times the skin will be cut through, partly or whoUy, and it may for 

 the time cause a suflGicient amount of pain to check the motion of the 

 animal and induce him to suspend 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 be- 

 come 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 with that of the lesion. 

 Following 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 extra vasated 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 



