4 
LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
moment, however, the foot is raised, and a state of inaction suc¬ 
ceeds, they become soft and compressible. 
Fetlock Windgalls undergo morbid Changes, however, 
the same as windgalls of other parts do : indeed, from the amount 
of irritation and aggravation they receive, they may be said to be 
more obnoxious to such changes. In the course of time, under the 
influence of work, they grow thicker and thicker in their sacs; 
additional coatings are deposited upon them, to strengthen them, as 
it were; and these depositions, from being cellular, in time become 
fibrous, callous, and even, as we have already seen in the case men¬ 
tioned of Mr. King’s, converted into bone, occasioning at first 
stiffness, then lameness, and ending in partial or complete immo¬ 
bility of joint. These changes, as they are brought about, account 
for the less and less puffiness and fluctuating character the swell¬ 
ings acquire by age; as well as for the solid, even hard, feel they 
possess in their chronic state in the aged and used-up horse. 
It is rare for Windgalls to require Treatment, ab¬ 
stractedly, at least, from concomitant failings. Manifest disease or 
derangement exists in the fetlock joints—-we say “ joints,” because 
they almost uniformly fail in pairs—and then, coupled with the 
presence of prominent windgalls, ample cause is usually discovered 
for either blistering or firing the affected joints, inclusive of the 
windgalls. Not that we shall thereby altogether get entirely rid 
of the windgalls; but that we shall succeed by such remedies, 
combined with ample repose, in reducing the swellings, and in 
restoring soundness, and bracing and strengthening the relaxed and 
knuckling-over joints as well. It is not often that we are called 
to treat windgalls, and less frequent still is it that we feel ourselves 
justified in such undertakings ; and when we do set about to treat 
them, it is but with doubtful result, so far as their reduction is 
concerned, unless we employ remedies—such as strong irritants 
and blisters—that lay the horse up, and this is what is, seldom 
permitted. Therefore, if required to do something towards lessen¬ 
ing their volume while horses are still going on with their work, 
the best treatment for windgalls is some well-regulated course of 
pressure or friction, aided by discutient applications. A russia- 
duck bandage, three yards in length, and four inches in breadth, 
will, by being neatly and tightly rolled round the leg in such 
manner as to give the windgalls the principal pressure, wetted 
with simple water even, and better still if with some lotion pos¬ 
sessing stimulant or discutient properties, in time bring about some 
good, particularly when there is any reason to suspect inflam¬ 
matory action in or about the tumour; though better treatment 
than this, in general, is well rubbing into the tumours iodine oint¬ 
ment of adequate strength, or else an application composed of equal 
