128 
LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
By William Percivall, M.K.C.S. and V.S. 
[Continued from p. 73.] 
Blood-Spavin. 
In Hunter’s " Complete Dictionary of Farriery and Horseman¬ 
ship,”—“ compiled from the best authors”—blood-spavin is de¬ 
scribed to be “ an enlargement of the vein which runs withinside a 
horse’s hough, forming a little soft swelling in the hollow part, which 
is pliant to the touch, and is frequently productive of weakness or 
lameness of the part. When this disorder is in its infancy, it will 
frequently give way to the use of spirituous and saturnine applica¬ 
tions,” &c. But “ if, after following this mode of treatment for a 
sufficient length of time to insure success, &c. there should appear 
little or no amendment, the (following) blistering application had 
better be tried.” 
After such a declaration as this, on the authority of the “ best 
authors,” were we to refuse to entertain the subject of “ blood- 
spavin,” we might justly be said to lay ourselves open to animad¬ 
version for offering no opinion on what was regarded and treated 
as a disease by our ancestors in the practice of “ farriery.” We 
feel we have no right to treat either them or the public with such 
“ contemptuous silence but, on the contrary, are called upon to 
divulge what the result of our own experience has taught us con¬ 
cerning the asserted “ enlargement of the vein,” which is said to 
be “ frequently productive of weakness or lameness in the part.” 
A common accompaniment of bog-spavin—nay, almost a con¬ 
stant accompaniment whenever the tumour is full and prominent— 
is distention of the vena saphena , or main superficial vein of the 
hind limb, at the place where it meets with the bog spavin, over 
which it passes in its course to the thigh. That pressure made 
against the vein by the tumour should produce some impediment 
to the flow of blood through it, and so cause the vessel to become 
full or distended at this particular part, is no more than one 
might expect, and what, in fact, does happen. But to say that the 
vein in consequence becoming “ enlarged,” or, in surgical language, 
becomes varicose from this pressure, is more, we must confess, 
than we have been able to convince ourselves takes place. We 
believe the fulness caused by the pressure against the vein to 
amount at greatest to no more than distention of the vessel; we 
have never had reason to suppose that any actual dilatation or 
“ enlargement” existed; and therefore, for our own part, we must 
