580 
W. BRYDEN. 
A CASE OF SPRINGHALT. 
By W. Beyden, Y.S., Boston, Mass. 
(A Paper read before the Massachusetts Veterinary Association, Nov. 25, 1891.) 
About the ist of June, 1891, I received a letter from Dr. 
Howard, President of the Massachusetts Veterinary Associa¬ 
tion, inviting- me with other veterinarians to call at the wharf 
of the N. Ward Company, and see a remarkable case of spring¬ 
halt. It was intended to kill the subject within a few days, 
and send the spinal cord to Worcester to be examined at the 
Clark University there. The invitation was accepted, and 
the case carefully examined. 
He was a small, black pony, about fourteen hands high 
and twenty years old, apparently well enough with the ex¬ 
ception of his hind legs, which were badly affected with 
springhalt, both legs being nearly, if not quite, alike. In view¬ 
ing him from behind, the crests of the illium were about even, 
the gluteals both alike flat, the hips drooping, and the sac¬ 
rum and tail elevated and coarse ; the muscles superior to the 
stifle were somewhat wasted, and muscles behind the tibia 
were small and felt like tendons to within two or three inches 
of their origin ; the hocks were both coarse, but not more 
than ought to be expected under the circumstances, his age 
and the way he had been used for a long time, having tended 
to produce changes ; both had a small elevation, or slight 
coarseness, at the seat of bone spavin. The legs afterwards 
became swollen below the hock, from the fact that the stall in 
which he stood part of the time, although at least five feet 
wide, was not wide enough to enable him to walk into it, and 
when once in if he attempted to move, which was very fre¬ 
quently, he struck the outside of his ankles with such force 
against the sides of the stall that they became swollen, bruised 
and sore. 
The parts that attracted my attention most, however, were 
his hoofs. They had evidently been causing the creature 
trouble for a long time, and were both alike, or nearly so. 
They were smaller than nature intended them to be, and 
