Clap of the back sinews results from exertion; it may be the work of an instant. The horse sometimes is pulled up, or, in severe cases, it falls. If it be pulled up, it refuses to move at a quicker pace than a hobble, and stands still again so soon as whip or spur are not applied to the sufferer's body. The maimed limb is flexed, and rests upon the toe of the injured leg. There can be no mistake now about the seat of lameness; the foot of the affected limb will hardly be put to the ground. The seat of the malady is soon declared. In a short space a tumor displays itself; it is small, hot, tender, and soft, in the first instance, though it soon enlarges, and grows very hard. The animal does not exhibit much constitutional distress, for it requires excessive pain to call forth such a display in the patient and most enduring horse.

Physic is necessary in this case; a gentle blood-letting, even, may be required, followed by a few doses of febrifuge medicine; but the treatment should be carried no further than is necessary to reduce the pulse to fifty-five degrees. The leg should be wrapped in a stout linen bandage; day and night the part should be saturated with the coldest possible water until the primary symptoms have abated. Cut grass should be the food while any fever rages, but no longer, for the wish is not to destroy the powers of reparation by weakening the body. The cold water should be continued till recovery appears confirmed; but it will be many months before the horse, thus disabled, will again be fit for full or energetic work. Commonly, however, this accident takes place in the hunting-field; and sportsmen, silly as may be their amusements, are no niggards. If they occasionally injure a horse, they will spare no expense that can aid its restoration; and a summer's rest may not be thrown away upon the favorite which has met with such a mishap. However, the mark will remain for life—an obvious swelling will, during existence, denote the place where clap occurred to the back sinews.

SPRAIN OF THE BACK SINEWS.

Sprain of the back sinews of the hind legs is very general among animals which have to perform slow work upon hilly roads. People in the carrier trade can afford to bestow small attention upon the lameness which does not incapacitate. Every journey, however, aggravates the disease. The horse works on till his owner is told by the blacksmith the animal's legs are contracting, and higher calkins are given as a cure.

At length, however, calkins become of no use. The work continues, and the disease progresses. The position of the foot is now so altered, that the smith discovers his office is unable to render the animal useful. Perhaps these circumstances would little affect the owner, but the horse evidently loses power. At first it is longer on the road. The passengers grumble at the delay, (for country carriers reap no little profit by carrying passengers;) and the driver, flog as he may, can oblige the horse to move no faster. Excessive beating is apt to provoke pity; and every word of pity which is lavished on the evidently eager animal is distasteful to the carrier, who vents his anger upon the wretched cause of all "this rumpus."

At last the horse cannot guide the cart down hill, even when lightly loaded. Assistance is at first procured; but very soon the assistant has to do all the labor. The proprietor cannot imagine what ails his horse; it keeps getting worse and worse. He takes the animal to a farrier. Remedies—oils and blisters—are applied to no effect. A veterinary surgeon is consulted, and the master learns that the only hope left him lies in division of the tendons of the hind leg.—(See operation.)

When a cart-horse's heel heightens, always attend to the back sinews. Feel them gently, to discover if one place is more tender, harder, softer, or slightly warmer, than the rest. Should this not succeed, pinch them hard, and run the fingers down them, marking the part at which the animal flinches. Healthy tendon will endure any amount of pressure; diseased tendon is acutely sensitive. Having discovered the locality of the injury, order the hair to be cut short. Put a linen bandage round the lesion, and see that it is constantly kept wet; but do not expect a speedy cure. Those structures which are slow to exhibit disease are always tardy in resigning it. Bone and tendon are of this kind.

Therefore do not expect any relief before three months have expired, and it will certainly be six months before the horse is fit to resume labor. Do not blister, bleed, seton, or fire: these things are expensive, and occupy much time. Have patience. Grant the time which the supposed specifics would employ, and the effect, with or without their use, is very likely to be the same. The only remedy for a badly-contracted tendon is an operation, and to that subject the reader is referred.

The horse, however, which has been subjected to such a remedy will never be fit for its former uses. No art can restore the primary strength of nature, although human intelligence may arrest the progress of disease. The thought, that the consequences of ill treatment are not always to be eradicated, should surely induce greater care of that property which, once lost to man, can never be replaced.

When a tendinous structure is injured, the best treatment is gentleness and patience. Blisters, setons, etc. can only change an acute disorder into a chronic deformity. Entire rest, with such applications as ease the attendant agony, and a sympathy that can afford to wait upon a tardy restoration, are better than all pretended specifics.

BREAKING DOWN.

Breaking down is the severest injury which the tendons can endure. In proof of this may be cited the general notion that, when a racer breaks down, some of the back sinews are ruptured. This, however, does not often occur; but though the tendons are, generally, only severely sprained, some of the finer tissues, which enter into the composition of the leg, are in all cases actually sundered.

The animal is at its full pace—doing its utmost, and delighting its rider, who feels confident of coming in first. Instantaneously the horse loses the power of putting one fore leg to the ground. The jockey knows what has taken place. He flings himself from the saddle, and hastily glances at the animal's foot. It probably is distorted; or, perchance, the accident may have taken effect higher up, and the injury merely be severe clap of the back sinews. Be it which it may, with a heavy heart at loss of money and credit, thus suddenly snatched from him, the jockey leads the horse toward the stand, or, by the shortest road, to the stable.

Many horses, after encountering this accident, are instantly shot. The poor animals, by such a proceeding, are saved from a painful cure and a crippled existence. Such conduct is, however, seldom actuated by thoughts of mercy. Nevertheless, to an animal of motion, whose every feeling is displayed by means of its limbs, and which is instinctively more perfect in action than the most accomplished ballet-master, the incumbrance of a leg misshapen, callous, and unwieldy, must be a serious affliction. The limb is spoiled for life in the horse which has broken down. The pain in time departs; the breathing becomes quiet; the pulse sinks to the normal point; the appetite returns, and the spirits grow to be as high as ever. But no art can replace the structures which have been disorganized; and the limb, after everything approaching to inflammation has subsided, remains a huge, unsightly object—an affliction to its possessor.

The treatment of breaking down has not been much experimented with. However, constitutional measures are, at first, imperative. At the same time, a bandage should be applied to the injured limb, and this bandage should be kept constantly wet with cold water. A high-heeled shoe should be put on as soon as may be possible; but no treatment can hope to restore the horse to its departed agility, or even to fit it for ordinary usefulness. However, should it be a stallion or a mare, it may be as valuable as a sounder animal for stud purposes. Accidents are not hereditary; nor is there any reason why the foal of a horse which has broken down should not excel the progeny of a more fortunate sire. Among racers, emasculation not being the general practice, this opinion may probably save many a favorite from the doom which a disappointed proprietor now too often inflicts.

CURB.

This is one of the evils which chiefly are the property of the better breed of horses. Man delights to show off the animal he is mounted upon. Be it male or female, old or young, the equestrian is always pleased by the prancing of the horse. The creature seems to comprehend, and to derive gratification from obeying the wish of its superior. It enters into the desires of its dictator, without a thought of prudence or a care for its personal safety. In hunting or in racing, the simple horse more than shares the excitement of its rider, and often encounters the severest accidents in consequence of these amusements. That which is pastime to man frequently proves death to his amiable servant. Often is the animal so maimed by these sports as to necessitate its life being taken upon the course or in the field.

These reflections are very painful to any body who appreciated the loving and devoted character of the quadruped. Among the least of its sufferings probably may be reckoned curb, although the mark of the affection nearly always remains for life, and the misfortune sometimes quite disables the horse which incurs it. It consists of an enlargement, or a gradual bulging out, at the posterior of the hock.

There is some dispute about the seat of curb. The author examined a hock which had chronic curb, and found the perforan tendon disorganized. The late Mr. W. Percival (the respected originator of the very best work upon the horse and its diseases which is extant in the English language) also inspected a hock, and found the sheath of the tendon more involved than the tendon itself. However, a slight acquaintance with the mystery of anatomy assures us that the tendon must have been stretched when the sheath was injured, since the first invests and is inserted into the last. It is well known that synovial membrane is far more sensitive than tendon. It is therefore probable that the membrane would exhibit disease before the tendon displayed the slightest symptom of being affected. The membrane is also capable of displaying the signs of injury long after every trace may have disappeared from the tendon itself.

The effect of the treatment at present adopted is to confirm the enlargement, or to change the swelling into a lump of callus, which will accompany the sufferer to its death. Curbs are said to be the inheritances of animals of a certain conformation. Horses born with what are termed curby hocks are asserted to be much exposed to this kind of accident. The author has, for many years, particularly inspected animals of this description; and he never recollects to have seen a curb upon a hock of that peculiar conformation. To be sure, no man is likely to select either a hunter or a racer from a tribe thus bearing upon their limbs the signs of weakness. The creatures are consequently exempted from the great provocatives of the accident. However, that the reader may fully comprehend what is meant by a curby hock, one is here represented, together with a sound or naturally-formed, clean joint.

The custom of blistering a horse the instant a curb appears is most injurious. Harm is done, in every point of view, by such a habit. The animal should have a high-heeled shoe put on immediately, so as to ease the overstrained tendon. The part ought then to be kept constantly wet with cold water, so as to lower or disperse the inflammation. It should not be blistered, to heat and increase the vascularity of the structures. A cloth, doubled twice or thrice, is easily kept upon the hock by means of an India-rubber bandage, of the form delineated in the accompanying engraving. Such a cloth, so placed, is afterward to be made constantly cool and wet.

This treatment should be continued; the animal being confined to the stall and made to move as little as possible, until the heat and swelling are diminished and the leg is almost sound. The part being quite cool, a blister should then be rubbed all over the joint; and with that this treatment, in the great majority of cases, is ended. On no account should any man allow his horse's hock to be fired for curb. This is a very general practice; but the author has never witnessed any good result therefrom. He has, however, seen much agony ensue upon the custom. The form of the marks perpetuated upon the skin of a living creature is shown herewith, and were plainly visible in the case of curb, which the writer dissected.

Pulling horses up on their haunches is asserted to be a frequent cause of curb; yet curb is not an accident commonly met with among those animals which drag London carriages. These creatures are being constantly thrown upon their haunches, it being, by ladies, considered "very pretty and very dashing" to make their servants tug at the reins, regardless of the living mouths on which these operate. Pulling suddenly up, however objectionable for other reasons, does not seem to induce curb, as London carriage horses are all but free from that affection. The disease is mainly caused by uneven ground wrenching the limb; by galloping at the topmost speed; by prancing when mounted, or by leaping when after the hounds. Perhaps more curbs are to be seen in a district on which several packs are kept, than in any other part of the country.

OCCULT SPAVIN.

The horse is subject to many fearful maladies, but to none which is more terrible than ulceration between the bones composing the joints. Synovial membrane, cartilage, and bone are without sensation during health. The author hopes his reader is not conscious of a bone in his body; it is also wished that he may read with surprise, that the ends of bones are covered with cartilage, and that many are invested with synovial membrane. As has already been observed, these structures in health are not sensitive; but when disease starts up, be it only the slightest blush of inflammation, the acutest anguish is thereby occasioned.

Ulceration of the joints is, unfortunately, rather common among 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 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 displaying 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 lameness, 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 treatment.

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 services 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 treatment, has to take one step for every morsel it bites of poor and watery food. It is forced to travel long and far, or literally to starve; its body must rest upon the ulcerated bone, and the weight even be increased by the pendulous head before enough herbage can be cropped to sustain the life. At every step two ulcerated surfaces grate upon each other and are forced violently together; while anguish consumes the flesh, the nature of the food may keep in the life, but cannot otherwise than depress the spirits. Besides, the horse has been turned from a sheltered stall where it was daily groomed, into a field where it has to brave the utmost stress of the elements, uncared for and unnoticed.

At the end of three months the horse is taken up: to the master's disgust, it is found to be not looking smarter and not to be going sounder. More routine treatment is now permitted, and the diseased limb undergoes further torture; another three months is passed, and the lameness becomes worse than ever. The proprietor is loath to part with his property; but he often says "he wishes the animal were dead." At last, losing all patience, and never having possessed any care for the life which had suffered injury in his service, the horse is lent to some carter, who undertakes to "work it sound." This process never, in occult spavin, succeeds; the wretched quadruped gets worse day by day, till neither oaths nor lashes can prevent misery from limping on three legs.

At length, worked to a skeleton, the horse is returned to its proprietor, who, inviting pity upon his misfortune, that life will feel, and that horse-flesh is subject to the ailments affecting all creatures which breathe, orders his servant to take "the beast" to the knacker's and to get what he can for it.

Such is the history of ulcerated joint. All joints are exposed to ulceration; every bone in the fore and hind leg may be thus affected. The small bones of the hock are those most commonly diseased; whenever this is the case, the only termination which can reasonably be hoped for is that the inflamed surfaces may be united. The bones are then bound together by osseous union, and are, of course, firmly locked; they are no longer capable of the slightest movement one upon the other; but this is no vast evil: many animals are now at work having the smaller bones firmly united by osseous deposit. Horses in that condition are far from useless, even for the highest purposes.

The man whose animal gets ulceration of the hock-joint ought to allow the injured quadruped even twelve months of uninterrupted rest. The first thing is to get the sufferer into slings; the earlier this is done the better; it takes off the weight from the affected joint, relieves the pain, and gives the system full opportunity to rectify the lesion. To draw blood to the part and so promote deposit, rub in, once every two days, some of the embrocation recommended in the article on "Rheumatism," which is thus composed: of soap liniment, sixteen ounces; liquor ammonia, tincture of cantharides, and of laudanum, of each two ounces. There need be no fear of applying friction; the utmost pressure made upon an ulcerated joint can call forth no response. When the joint is embrocated, wrap the part loosely in flannel, using an elastic webbing to fasten the portion above and below the hock, and not tying any fastening around the painfully-diseased member; give three feeds of corn, a few old beans, and sweet hay for each day's support, while the treatment lasts.

The improvement will be denoted by the animal bearing upon the affected limb; after three mouths or longer, the slings may be removed; in another three months, the horse, should the pace be sound, may perform gentle work. However, the first three months must be reckoned from the date when the animal commenced to bear continuously on the ulcerated joint; in short, the slings are not to be removed until long after the quadruped has, by its carriage, declared them to be useless. Then, for the three subsequent months, the work must not be violent; time should be allowed for the union to be confirmed, for, among the many diseases the horse is exposed to, there is not one more treacherous or more liable to relapse than occult spavin.

Such is all that is necessary for the treatment of this disorder; rest—perfect rest, with food capable of supporting nature in the reparative process—is everything which is absolutely necessary. A loose box even does injury, so entire must be the rest, which should be as near to stagnation as it is possible to make it. The embrocation is simply recommended to draw blood to the part, and promote the required deposition. One caution only is necessary—give no purgative; keep the bowels regular by means of cut grass and bran mashes.

If the above measures fail, as in the majority of cases they certainly will, nevertheless good will have been done by abating the violence of the ulcerative process. Before the last resort of all is adopted, another chance remains, which, as an experiment, is justifiable. Puncture the joint—a very small incision will be required; have the limb forcibly retracted or pulled backward; then inject, with a syringe having a fine point, about one ounce of dilute spirits of wine, in which is dissolved half a drachm of iodine. Immediately afterward place the animal in slings, and apply cold water to the hock by means of the India-rubber bandage described in the preceding article. Keep the horse liberally so soon as the pulse becomes quiet, and do not allow it to leave bondage till the tread is firm; as exercise is endured, work may be very gradually resumed.

Remember, the above is proposed only as a last experiment; the design is to change the ulcerative action to one of a secretive character, and thereby promote union of the diseased bones. A trial of this kind has never been instituted; but, certainly, judging from the result of a similar operation upon the human subject, there are the best grounds for anticipating good effects. That it may be known where to make the puncture, a drawing made from the bones of a diseased hock is inserted on page 311; the darker line marks the place where the ulcerated surfaces existed, and into which the fluid should be injected. This, however, is so nice an operation that, although unattended with any immediate danger, none but a skilled anatomist should undertake it. In proper and judicious hands it is perhaps as safe, and more likely to be accompanied with benefit than the great majority of veterinary remedies.

RHEUMATISM.

This form of disease in the horse is commonly known as following more serious affections. After influenza it is very frequent; it is not rare as coming in the train of thoracic disorders; most important organs, being acutely affected, will leave it behind them. On rare occasions it may appear without any forerunner.

Its advent is announced by swelling about the joints, accompanied by the most painful lameness; the animal may not dare to put its foot to the ground. Often the disease flies about, now seizing upon one or two joints, next attacking the hitherto free members, and generally clinging to similar parts, as the hocks, knees, etc. Then it will return to its former abode—thus shifting about, to the torture of the animal and the confusion of him who may undertake its relief.

One almost constant symptom is an increase of synovia. For synovial membrane, whether in the sheaths of tendons or on the heads of bones, rheumatism always displays a marked partiality. This structure is, as has been already noticed, without sensation during health; in disease, however, its involvement communicates extreme agony. The afflicted horse stands with difficulty; its pulse and its breathing declare its sufferings—both are quick and jerking; the limbs may be greatly swollen; and the parts secreting joint-oil bulged out, soft, and puffy, from the increase of their contents.

No disease is accompanied with such long and extreme pain as rheumatism; the remedies, therefore, should be quick and effective. Procure the steaming apparatus recommended for bronchitis; fill the warm, loose box, into which the horse should be brought, with vapor; while that is being accomplished, get ready the slings; put the belly-piece under the animal, and fix them so as not to take the entire bearing from the ground, but so as to relieve the diseased joints of some portion of their burden, and allow the horse to rest its body when it is disposed to repose.

Keep up the steam for one hour; at the end of that period, have several men ready with dry cloths—wisps would be too exciting; let the men wipe the horse quite dry, with as little noise and as much speed as possible. This over, order some of the assistants to put on the hood and clothing, also wrapping the sound limbs in flannel; the disengaged helpers are to go upon their knees and rub into and about the seat of disorder a liniment thus composed:—

When the liniment has been applied, incase the affected limbs in warm flannel.

Many persons are at a loss to comprehend this last direction; it is easily accomplished. Have ready some rings of elastic webbing to fasten over the members; also procure four pieces of flannel, each rather more than the length of a limb. To the small ends of two pieces of flannel, one yard and a half long, attach a band of broad, elastic webbing, and fix a buckle and strap at the other terminations; at similar points of the other two pieces of flannel, only these last are to be two yards long, likewise fix broad elastic bands, and also append a buckle and strap. Place the long pieces of flannel by the hind limbs; put the shorter flannels by the fore legs; buckle the straps, the fore ones over the withers, and the hind straps over the loins. This will keep the flannel up to its proper height; fasten it with the rings of elastic webbing to the hoofs, while the assistants are wrapping it loosely round the limbs.

The horse being in the slings, no surcingle can be put on, nor is any needed. The animal with acute rheumatism is certain to stand quiet enough. So much being accomplished, give the horse a bolus formed of powdered colchicum, two drachms; iodide of potassium, one drachm; simple mass, a sufficiency.

These measures are to be taken regardless of the condition of the body; if the attack, however, follow another disease, the bodily support must not be too low. It should be all prepared or softened by the action of heat and water; the oats should be of the best description; they should be crushed and boiled; a few old beans, also boiled, may be added, and a malt mash occasionally will do no harm. To open the bowels, and likewise to allay excitement, give green-meat when required; but do not make a practice of allowing this sort of food in quantity, as it blows the animal out, weakens the digestion, and soon loses all laxative effect.

Next morning repeat the steaming, etc., and give a ball composed of a scruple of calomel and two drachms of opium; allow only five pounds of hay during the day. At night, again steam, etc., and give the ball which was recommended on the first occasion.

When the horse begins to bear upon its legs, should the liniment not have blistered the joints, the following may be applied with a soft brush, but without friction:—

The horse may be of a full habit when affected; in that case, pursue the measures already recommended, but do not give the food before advised; instead, allow bran mashes twice a week, and a bundle of green-meat once a day, and sweet hay must make up the sustenance for twenty-four hours. Should the horse, however, appear to lose flesh and spirit, boiled corn must form a portion of the diet, and the quantity can be regulated only by him who has charge of the case.

One caution must be given before concluding this article. A sick animal is very sensitive as to noises; a door banged to will excite the terror of the poor creature, which, probably, was half asleep, with the head hanging down. A loud word or an energetic action will not unseldom call forth symptoms of such alarm as may threaten, through their utter recklessness, to demolish the structure in which the horse is confined. For these, if from no purer motives, respect the sufferings and wisely try to soothe the animal. As the creature is devoid of reason to shape its fears, approach it noiselessly; speak softly at first; ascertain—although the eye be closed—by the motion of the ears, whether your voice is heard. Then lay the hand upon the neck and gently caress the sick body; after that you may do what you please, so nothing be very sudden or very loud.

Such slight considerations will not be thrown away, even in a medical point of view. A moment of excitement may do the injury which no physic will remove; nay, in critical stages, many a life has been lost from want of thought in the attendants about a diseased horse.

DISTENTION OF SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE—WIND-GALLS.

Man treats the horse after a strange fashion. He buys the animal for a large sum, because it possesses some particular quality; but, hardly has he obtained it, before he behaves as though he desired only to destroy the property he has so dearly purchased. A horse, for private use, is generally bought for its beauty; in a short time afterward it is sold as having become too deformed for its master's service. A year or two commonly suffices to spoil the most perfect animal. Many are ruined in their colthood; many more are made worthless by the trainer. Of all creation, the horse is most abused. So universal is this custom that the marks of ill usage are in the market even regarded as if they were natural consequences. Those affections designated wind-galls are generally lightly esteemed by most horsemen when the animal is required for actual service—as hunting, racing, coaching, etc.

Such marks, however, are evidences of hard work having been performed. They are not natural formations; but are blemishes, which man, in his consideration for a dumb servant, is pleased to make light of. They do not generally impede the action—and lameness is the only fact a true horseman cares to notice. He will not stay to inquire what must have been the kind of work which could occasion the synovial membrane to bulge out upon a living body. He does not care to ask whether Nature, when deformity first appeared, instituted the fact without intention. He will not condescend to question whether every unnatural appearance is not designed to be a warning. But he views wind-galls rather as a proof that the poor animal exhibiting them is a seasoned horse, and, therefore, is bettered by the distortion of a sensitive structure.

Wind-galls are the result of severe work. The back sinews are incased in a fine sheath which contains synovia, or, as it is commonly termed, "joint oil." The use of the synovia is to facilitate the motions of the two great flexor tendons one upon the other; so, when the pace is too fast or the labor too energetic, the delicate membrane which secretes the synovia becomes irritated. The consequence of irritation is increased secretion. More joint oil is poured forth than the natural sac can contain. The membrane, therefore, bags out at those parts which are weakest. Two such places are situated above the fetlock and one below it. The localities, with the size of the tumors, as they generally are exhibited, the reader will find delineated in the following engravings.

Wind-galls generally appear on the hind leg. They used to be regarded as swollen bursæ; but Mr. Varnell, Assistant Professor at the Royal Veterinary College, by careful dissection, first pointed out their real character. He proved them to be synovial enlargements; and the writer, benefiting by Mr. Varnell's instruction, has verified the fact.

Very slight physiological knowledge was required to detect they were not bursæ. Bursæ are little round sacs, secreting a fluid like synovia, but always placed so as to facilitate motion. Now, wind-galls appear close to a synovial sheath ordained to serve the same purpose. They, moreover, start up in the hollow between the flexor tendons and the suspensory ligament, in which arteries, veins, nerves, and absorbents reside. The merit in discovering they had been misnamed was, perhaps, small; but the credit of demonstrating what they actually were—which demanded a more elevated talent—remains with Mr. Varnell.

Wind-galls are fond of the hind leg; or rather, the hinder limbs do the heaviest portion of the horse's work; therefore these deformities are commonly found on those members. There may be one or three on both sides of each leg: they generally are quiescent; but occasionally they prove wind-galls to be something more than the simple blemishes which man is pleased to esteem them. After a hard run it is not unusual to hear a huntsman complain that the wind-galls have disappeared and the back sinews of his hunter have become puffy. When that occurs, the entire sheath suffers excessive irritation, and has enlarged. The horse is then very lame, but a day or two of rest reduces the sudden enlargement, and the animal recovers its soundness.

Sometimes, however, repeated irritation starts up a new action; the secretion becomes turbid, displays enormous floating threads of cartilage and occasional sanguineous infiltration; the sac enlarges; the walls begin to thicken; the tumor feels less pulpy and more firm; it grows harder. First becomes cartilage, and ultimately may be converted into bone. Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, has a fine specimen of this species of disease.

During these changes the animal is very lame; yet wind-galls are so lightly esteemed by horsemen as scarcely to lessen the price of a steed; they are, in general, accounted hardly worth mentioning, although men have been known to be strangely anxious to have them removed. This, however, is not easy to bring about; all the common methods are worse than useless; the only treatment which promises any benefit is the application of pressure. Fold a piece of soft rag several times; saturate the rag with water; lay upon the wetted rag one drachm each of opium and of camphor; put these upon the enlargement. Upon the moistened rag place a piece of cork big enough to cover the wind-gall, and of such a thickness as may be necessary; above the cork lace on a vulcanized India-rubber bandage. Constant and equal pressure will by these means be kept up; however, mind the groom be strictly ordered to take the bandage off the leg the last thing when the horse leaves the stable, and to put it on again immediately on the animal's return; otherwise, the proprietor may chance to enter the building and find his steed without an application, which, to be beneficial, should be perpetually worn.

Such is the history and the occasional termination of wind-galls. What kind of man is he who, when purchasing a horse, can confidently assert the animal will not exhibit the worst stage of the affection? A horse displaying wind-galls is prepared for the advent of the more serious form of disease; still, horsemen will persist in deeming synovial enlargements a trivial affair, when seen in the body of a creature whose utility resides in its power to move the limbs with agility.

BOG SPAVIN.

Bog spavin is a mark which man makes to signalize his authority over breathing flesh; man, in his stupidity, will form notions of what animals should be; he will not learn from nature. Thus the horse, which is made up of timidity and affection, he loves to chronicle as fierce, fiery, noble, and courageous; he talks largely of having mastered such or such a creature; he boasts highly of having laid whip and spur to a "brute" which, had he courted with gentleness, and wooed with sympathy, might not have been subdued so quickly, but assuredly would have been attached to him for life.

The hocks suffer severely through such erroneous opinions. These convictions are widely spread and influence every horseman; they control the breaker, who acts as though he had a wild beast to conquer into a show of submission, not to train a living animal which is naturally willing, only afraid to submit. Instead of courting such a being, the bit, the lash, and the cold steel are brought to bear upon a frame every fiber of which already quivers with alarm; many a colt, consequently, is ruined by the breaker. The creature is pulled up with a tug at the reins; and pain never yet enlightened an understanding; the horse is forced to do what he would cheerfully perform, if man would only take necessary trouble to communicate his wishes to a creature which, not comprehending words, is naturally somewhat slow to interpret heavy chastisement.

The breaker, however, is considered equal to his office, if he be a light weight and a very resolute man. The young colt is sprained and jarred in every possible manner; it is at last returned to its master more than half broken—in the literal sense—for the seeds have been sown which, in time, will assuredly crop into a host of virulent diseases.

This affection is an increase of synovia in the upper or chief joint of the hock; it lies upon the most inward and forward portion of that part. The increase of the contents causes the membrane to bulge out after the manner represented in the wood-cut on page 318.

It is produced by repeated shocks to the limb, and in this respect resembles wind-galls; though situated in a different locality, it is also liable to the same changes. In short, the affections are the same, and are dissimilar only with regard to their relative situation.

Bog spavin is thought slightly of by professed horsemen; however, the reader must ask himself, if it be viewed as no deterioration, can it be also regarded as a recommendation? Is a blemished leg, or a limb with disease, which is liable to assume an aggravated type, properly considered a sound member? The writer thinks not. Bog spavin does not, in its ordinary stage, lame the horse; but can such an unnatural enlargement add to the pleasure of the animal's existence? Were pain in man judged of entirely as it affected the walk of the human being, the disorders of how many people would the doctor esteem of little consequence! Such a standard of agony is ridiculous. It is most difficult to say when no anguish is felt by the life which is denied the faculty of announcing its sensations through the medium of speech.

THOROUGH-PIN.

This disease is so called, because in some cases it pierces right through the thinnest part of the hind leg, or appears on either side immediately before the point of the hock. It, however, is often single. It is rarely present without bog spavin; and in every instance which the author has examined, it communicated with the large synovial articulation of the joint.

It is provoked by the same causes as generate bog spavin; it is similar to that disorder in not being generally accompanied by lameness, and in being liable to the same fearful changes. Pressure and rest are the best remedies; pressure, applied after the manner recommended for wind-galls, may in some cases answer. The bog spavin and the thorough-pin, however, should not in every case be treated at the same time; as a general rule, it is prudent only to attack one affection by means of an India-rubber bandage. This should be so cut as to release the bog spavin from all pressure; and where the slightest uneasiness is evinced, all bandages should be instantly removed, while the corks and cloths—employed as for wind-galls—are taken off the thorough-pin.

It is never well to attempt to cure the bog spavin first; the treatment ought always to commence with the thorough-pin; therefore, for a horse which will not endure the bandage, a truss must be procured from the instrument-maker. The truss is of the ordinary description, only adapted to bear upon the parts. This will probably act with efficacy equal to the bandage. When the truss has performed its office, then a perfect India-rubber bandage may be safely applied. Only, mind and also employ with the last the corks and cloths; else, when endeavoring to remove one disorder, you may reproduce another. Watch the animal while wearing the bandage; on the slightest change, either in habit or appearance, remove the India-rubber. Should the pressure affect the skin, (as it will in certain cases,) rags, thoroughly wetted, should be wrapped round the hock before lacing the bandage up. If the rags appear to be of no avail, it is better to forbear for a time, and to renew the attempt hereafter.