Chapter XII (1)

LIMBS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.

OSSEOUS DEPOSITS--SPAVIN.

"One horse could wear out two pairs of legs," is an old jockey's phrase. Most men, when purchasing a dumb slave, pay great attention to the lower extremities. If an animal be used up or has performed hard work, the indications are sure to be found on those parts; but what a comment does the language and the act referred to pass upon the conduct of those masters, the history of whose treatment, or rather whose abuse of a living creature, is thus sought for and often found upon a breathing frame!

Before the strength has departed, or the legitimate number of years are exhausted, cruelty deprives a most obedient drudge of its power to serve. The history of almost every horse in this kingdom is a struggle to exist against human endeavors to deprive it of utility. Nature, when she made the animal, formed a creature hardly second to her master-piece in anatomical perfection; the legs are strong, but, in his impatience and in his blind obedience to the dictates of fashion, man _will_ put them to their fullest use before their structure is confirmed. Racers go into training when one year old. Carriage horses, omnibus machinery, cart horses, nags, roadsters, may-birds, and park hacks generally come into work about the third year. The animal, however, does not cut all its teeth till the completion of its fifth birthday. It requires to look upon eight seasons before its adult period is entered upon; and yet at the third year, or before that period, it is put to such work as only a horse can or does perform.

When the horse was designed to be only matured, the frivolity of mankind pronounces the creature to be _aged_. The life is, indeed, generally worthless before the eighth year is entered upon. The young flesh, bones, and sinews, long before that time arrives, are made the seats of poignant diseases. Work, not in the first instance laborious, but sudden and energetic beyond what the frame of the young horse can endure, casts it out of the gentleman's stable. Once removed from that place, its descent is rapid. From the carriage to the cab is a leap often cleared in equine history; but every change adds misery to its lot. It fares worse, lodges worse, and works harder with every new proprietor, till at length, as its years and wretchedness accumulate, Nature interposes and takes the sufferer to herself.

At the head of this article stands an engraving of the mildest form of reward which docility reaps by service unto cruelty. When will this land, which so loudly boasts its Christianity, apply in its fullness and its strength the sacred maxim--"Do unto others as you would others should do unto you"? When will churchmen teach that the religion which does not enlarge the heart toward every breathing life upon the earth, is unworthy of the _Christian_ title? Men who would rage to hear their faith called in question, nevertheless feel no shame when they urge the young steed to that act which probably will cripple the animal for the short remainder of its life.

=Spavin=, =splint=, or =ring-bone= are no more the legitimate consequences of equine existence, than nodes and anchylosis are the natural inheritances of human beings; yet what would the world look like, if men had their motions impeded and their joints firmly locked by bony deposits in anything like the proportion which such misfortunes are witnessed in the inferior life? The most useful, the most trusting, and the most joyous of animals is the one toward which man acts as though his study was to abuse the authority intrusted to him. Its utility lies in its legs; its play also is a canter; but before its body is set, its limbs are disabled. Kindness can subdue the creature, which, however, is never taken out of its prison without the whip; it is treated as a thing without feeling: but its body is not more impressible to brutality than its feelings are sensitive to gentleness. The one is often injured, and the others are frequently vitiated by the master it too literally obeys.

A swelling or bony tumor, situated upon the lower and inner part of
the hock-joint.
]

Spavin and splint both are the change of ligamentous structure into bone: spavin occurs at the inner and lower part of the hock; splint also may be sometimes found at the same part of the knee. The name splint is likewise applied to any bony enlargement upon the shins or below the hocks and the knees.

Splints in the fore leg are mostly seen on the inner side. On the hind limb, however, such growths principally favor the outer side. The advent of splint, when near the knee, is generally accounted for by saying the inner side of the joint lies more under the center of gravity, and, therefore, is the more exposed to injury. Such an interpretation, however, leaves the preference for the outer locality--when splints are witnessed on the hind leg--unexplained. Perhaps the reader will--after having contemplated the two following engravings, and subsequent to having observed that the artery of the hinder limb crosses the inferior part of the hock, to take its course down the outer side of the leg, while in the fore extremity the vessel continues along the inner side of the shin-bone--conclude with the author that, in splint, the distribution of the blood is more to be regarded than the weight, which, originally conveyed through a ball-and-socket joint, can hardly afterward affect one part to the release of the rest.

THE _inside_ OF THE FORE LEG, SHOWING THE VESSELS PROPER TO THAT
PART OF THE LIMB GENERALLY AFFECTED BY OSSEOUS DEPOSITS.
]

THE _outside_ OF THE HIND LEG, DISPLAYING THE VESSELS NATURAL
TO THAT PART OF THE LIMB WHICH IS COMMONLY THE SEAT OF OSSEOUS
DEPOSITS.
]

Having explained the peculiarity attending some bony tumors on the hind extremity, it now becomes our duty to explain what actually constitutes a spavin. Any bony growth or bony enlargement, however small, which is to be seen or felt upon the inner side of the hock, is a "spavin." But of spavins there are three kinds. The low sort, or the "Jack" of the horse-dealer's phraseology. This answers to the splint of the fore leg, and originates in the top of the splint bone.

A SHIN-BONE HAVING AN OSSEOUS DEPOSIT UPON ITS HEAD AND ON THE INNER
SIDE, WHICH MIGHT BE A SPLINT OR A SPAVIN, AS IT OCCURRED UPON THE
FORE OR HIND LEG.
]

THE INNER SIDE OF THE HOCK AFFLICTED WITH HIGH OR INCURABLE SPAVIN.
]

The bony enlargement, should it be located comparatively high upon the joint, often produces acute and incurable lameness. When low down, the granules of bone have little to interfere with. Being placed higher up, the tendons have to play over the osseous deposit; and, when that happens, the cure is hopeless.

The above form of disease, however, does not ensue upon every case of spavin. Many good racers, and most seasoned hunters, have spavins, which do not in any way detract from their speed, however much these growths may interfere with their action.

THE NATURAL POSITION OF THE HEALTHY FOOT WHEN RAISED FROM THE EARTH
DURING AN EASY TROT.
]

THE FOOT, INCAPABLE OF BEING FREELY RAISED FROM THE GROUND, BY A
HORSE WHICH IS BADLY SPAVINED.
]

Bony spavin does, when the quadruped starts, sensibly deteriorate that grace of motion which should characterize the action of the perfect horse. During the trot, the leg should be lifted clear of the earth, while, by an involuntary movement within the hock-joint, the hoof is inclined outward. This peculiarity is exhibited in the engraving on page 289, which supposes the spectator to be standing by the side of the animals.

Exostosis, formed on any part, locks together the bones which the deposit may involve, or it unites the several distinct parts into one osseous mass. By the bones of the hock being thus joined, all movement of the shin is effectually prevented; the foot of a spavined horse is, to a spectator who is laterally situated, always presented in a side view. Moreover, when severe spavin is present, the entire flexion of the lower portion of the limb is rendered impossible.

THE FOOT OF A SPAVINED LIMB, SHOWING THE WEAR OF THE TOE OF THE HOOF
AND SHOE; BOTH ARE CONSEQUENT UPON DRAGGING THE MEMBER UPON THE
GROUND.
]

The toes being moved along, instead of being lifted from the ground, occasions the hoof and shoe to suffer wear. The hoof generally presents a toe blunted by perpetual friction; while the shoe of a spavined horse is, in front, worn to a state of positive sharpness. These indications of disease should always be sought for, and, when present, they are so obvious as hardly to be mistaken.

Another test for spavin consists in observation made upon the manner of going. A horse thus affected comes out of the stable always stiff, and sometimes lame. Exercise, by warming the body, seems to soften the stubbornness of the disease; and the same animal, which left the stable in a crippled condition, may return to it in a state which, to the generality of gentlemen, would represent soundness. So well are dealers acquainted with this fact, that it is a custom with these folks for a spavined horse to be warmed before it is shown to a probable purchaser. No person, however, should hazard an opinion on any quadruped which is not perfectly cool, especially when there is a motive to be suspected of the slightest desire for a favorable judgment. The horse which, after exercise, should trot past with no obvious sign of spavin, having stood for an hour in the stable, would come forth a decided cripple, or, at all events, with such faulty action that a novice would immediately detect something wrong about the legs. This peculiarity is illustrated by the engraving which heads the present chapter.

Should the dealer refuse to exhibit the animal when cool, such refusal would be convincing evidence as to the condition of the horse. The sale should, under such circumstances, be at once repudiated.

However, when judging of disease, it is always well to divest the mind of every kind of prejudice. Animals of a certain kind of conformation are said to be disposed, or to be more than ordinarily subject, to spavin. Creatures of the foregoing sort show what are denominated sickle-hocks or cow-hocks. A sickle-hock is not a diseased joint, but it is one which the majority of horsemen have stigmatized as very liable to become diseased. Weakness, it it is only natural to imagine, such a malformation indicates; but, so far as the author's experience goes, creatures thus formed often continue sound when limbs of model shape give way.

It is now our duty to inform the reader how to examine a horse for spavin. In this operation there are four points of view to be taken--behind the animal, though always at a safe distance from the heels; in the front, but not close to the horse, yet so near that the examiner must bend to view the hocks between the fore legs; and from both the sides. In all these positions, it is prudent now to elongate the distance and now to approach nearer; then to move the head about, and occasionally to step to the right or to the left. In short, it is advisable to get as many different points of sight as possible; for in one, and only in one, may a spavin be detected on the hock, which, seen from any other spot, shall look perfectly clean. At the same time, from every point care should be taken to compare one hock with the other; if the slightest difference in point of size can be detected, it is fair to suppose one is enlarged by the commencement of disease. Any indication of this sort is always to be sought for. The disease may have just begun, but it is impossible to say where it may stop. The spavin may be very small; yet who can assert its growth is perfected? In the examination for spavin, however, allowance should be made for the age of the horse. Spavins, in young horses, may be regarded with alarm; in old animals, they generally are perfected, and, however large they may be, probably they will grow no bigger--on the contrary, as the years increase, they are usually diminished, being absorbed; but the bones, once locked together, are never subsequently unloosed, although all the swelling should entirely disappear.

The examination having been up to this point properly performed, there is yet another test to be adopted before the animal is trotted forth; here a well-trained and attentive groom is of every value--one who will keep on the same side as you may be upon, and who will follow your footsteps whenever you change from right to left. The duty of this groom is to hold up the front leg; the more stress is placed upon his attention, because no horse can kick with the hind foot of that side upon which one fore leg is off the ground. The attempt would deprive the body of all lateral support, and a fall would ensue; whereas many quadrupeds can, for a short time, balance themselves upon two legs, each being on opposite sides of the body: therefore the examiner, probably engrossed in his occupation, would be in considerable danger, should the groom forget to follow his movements.

Most horses are averse to having the hocks fingered; such liberties are apt to call up vehement indignation; it is necessary, therefore, to guard him who undertakes to inspect them. This the groom does most effectually; but the examiner should also take some caution--he should stand as close to the foot of the horse as may be convenient. Thus, should the animal kick out, he may escape, or, at most, be very rudely pushed on one side. The horse's kick is only severe after the heels have reached some distance, or have obtained power by propulsion; for that reason is the advice given to stand as near the hind foot as may be convenient.

Being in this situation, one hand is laid upon the top of the hock, and the entire weight of the body is brought to bear upon that part. The object is three-fold--to obtain, by this means, the earliest intimation of any design on the part of the animal to use the limb; to impede in some measure the extension of the leg; and to gain a point of rest on which to lean, while the head is bent forward to inspect, the free hand being employed to feel the part appropriate to spavin. Afterward comes the trot, the peculiarities to be detected in which have been anticipated.

Now we encounter the important question, What can be done for a spavined horse? If the animal be not lame, let it alone. However large, however unsightly the deposit may be, do not run the chance of exciting a new action in a part where disease exists in a quiescent form.

The regular treatment is to purge, give diuretics, bleed, blister, rowel, seton, periostoteomy, neurotomy, fire, and punch. The bleeding may be great or small, local or general; the blister, mild or severe, applied over half the joint at a time, or rubbed in after the limb has been scored by the iron. Rowels and setons may also be simple, or they may be smeared with irritants, which are made of different strengths. Periostoteomy may be single, or may be made compound by the addition of a seton and a blister. Neurotomy is very unsatisfactory, and very often a most tedious affair when employed to cure spavin. The fire may be down to the true skin; it may be through the skin, and on to the tumor; or it may be inflicted by means of a blunt-pointed instrument, which, when heated, burns its way into the bone itself. The punch also admits of variety; it may be with or without a blister; it may be holes made in a living body, which holes are filled with a corroding paste. Or the operation may consist of the exposure of the bone, and cutting off the offending portion with a saw, or knocking away part of a breathing frame with a chisel and a mallet.

All these tortures have for centuries been inflicted; they have been practiced upon thousands of animals, only for men, at this day, to doubt whether the cruelty has been attended with the slightest service. Flesh, as capable of feeling as our own, has been cut, irritated, burnt, and punched for hundreds of years; and now, at the twelfth hour, such operations are not discarded, but their efficacy is mildly questioned.

Reader, if you have a horse which is lame from spavin, and your calculations tell you it will not pay to nurse the cripple, have it slaughtered. Do not consent to have it tortured for a chance; do not sell it to the certainty of a terrible old age and of immediate torment.

The cure for spavin is good food and rest--perfect rest: such rest or stagnation as a healthy horse submits to in the stable. This, enjoined for months, with the occasional application of a mild blister, with the best of food, to enable nature to rectify man's abuse, will do more good, cost no more money, and occupy no more time than the devilries usually adopted, and very often adopted without success. As an additional motive on the side of humanity, it may be stated that the horse suffers much more when disease is located in the hind than when it is exhibited upon the fore leg. The ravages which, in the first case, would endanger the life, in the last would be borne with comparative tranquillity. The posterior parts of the animal seem to be endowed with exquisite sensibility; yet, in spite of this, the so-called cure for spavin, and the boasted treatment for ages, only consists in torturing the hocks of the animal.

While inflammation exists, apply poultices, and well rub the part with a mixture of belladonna and of opium--one ounce of each drug rubbed down with one ounce of water. Or place opium and camphor on the poultices; or rub the enlargement with equal parts of chloroform and camphorated oil. The pain having subsided and the heat being banished, apply, with friction, some of the following ointment. It may reduce the disease by provoking absorption; at all events, it will check all further growth by rendering further deposit almost an impossibility.

Iodide of lead One ounce.
Simple ointment Eight ounces.
Mix.

SPLINT.

The horse, could it only speak, would have sufficient cause to overwhelm man with its injuries. It is to be hoped that He who heeds not language, but reads the heart, will not peruse the horror written on that of the most contented and sweetest-dispositioned of man's many slaves. It is true, colts have spavin and splints. Creatures, whose days of bitterness are as yet to come, exhibit exostoses; but these blemishes are the sad inheritances of the cruel service exacted by thoughtless masters from the progenitors of the deformed. Nature gave the horse a fibro-cartilaginous or elastic union to particular bones, so that all its motions might be bounding and graceful. The animal, thus formed, was presented to man; but the gift was not prized by him to whom it was given. The authority possessed was abused. The capability of the horse was only measured by what it was able, at the risk of its life, to perform. The most humane of modern proprietors is an ignorant tyrant to his graceful bond-servant. The most meek of owners likes his horse to possess high action. The consequence is, the leg, lifted from the ground to the highest possible point, is forcibly driven again to the earth. This pace is imposed upon a creature so docile, it only seeks to learn that which pleases its master, and, in the entirety of its confidence, never mistrusts its instructor. The lesson is learned. The animal soon becomes proud to exhibit its acquirement. High action, however--especially that kind of action the horse is taught to exemplify--soon deranges the system. It breeds inflammation in the fibro-cartilaginous tissues, upon which its chief strain is felt. The union between the splint bones and the cannon, or between the shin-bone and the accessories, one on either side, speedily becomes converted into osseous matter.

However, man cannot say to nature, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther," otherwise the alteration of structure, if unseen, might distress the horse, but would little affect the owner. A diseased action, once started up, is apt to involve other parts than those in which it originated. Thus, a splint is strictly an exostosis or bony tumor on the inner and lower part of the knee-joint; but there are found to be others which this definition will not embrace. Here, for instance, are the ordinary kinds of splint to be seen, more or less, in every animal subject to man's usage.

1. A high splint, near the knee.

2. A low splint, far from the knee.

3. A small bony growth on the front of the leg, which is also called
a splint.
]

Number 1 is unsightly. Moreover, it gives an unpleasant jar to the rider of the poor horse thus deformed; and few men, when they state this fact, ever think of what sensation that which jars the equestrian must occasion to the steed. It will produce lameness at first; but, this surmounted and the tumor fully formed, it causes no inconvenience beyond a loss of elasticity when in motion; and because it provokes no lameness, man says it is unattended by feeling.

Figure 2 is a splint on the side of the leg. It also is unsightly, and produces a disagreeable sensation to the person in the saddle. Moreover, it is exposed to accidents. If the horse has high and close action, the tumor may be struck when the foot is being raised. Such a possibility is not altogether free from danger. The horse, having grazed the swelling, will often fall down as though it were shot. That circumstance warrants the supposition that these growths are not quite so devoid of sensibility as most horse owners are pleased to assert they are.

The slight enlargement, opposite which stands figure 3, denotes a growth of small size. It may be of no great consequence, if it appear on a vacant part of the bone, or on a place over which no tendon passes; but it is of serious import, if situated beneath a tendon, as then it causes incurable lameness.

Man having provoked these blemishes, Nature generally strives to remove the effects of his stupidity. She will smooth the top of the tumor by the interposition of cartilage and of ligament, that the skin may not be irritated when passing over these enlargements. She will also develop a false bursa on the top of each, thereby causing the integument to move with an approach to ease.

Yet there are other sorts of splints which often are very serious affairs. That the reader may comprehend these, let him attend to the next engraving.

1--Represents a splint which has involved the bones of the knee, and which has left the horse only the joint formed by the lower end of the radius to progress with. This is a sad business. The action is injured for life; and death, or a cart, is the lot of the wretched animal so diseased.

1. A splint involving the bones of the knee-joint.

2. A splint interfering with the action of the back sinews.

3. A small splint situated under the tendon of an extensor muscle.
]

2--Shows fine points of bone, so placed that they would impinge upon the suspensory ligament, if not upon the flexor tendons. Lameness, in its acutest form, would thereby be caused wherever the limb was bent. The lameness, probably, would last till death, as splints in this situation are rarely discovered during life.

3--Denotes an enlargement, probably produced by a blow received during a leap, or given by an impatient groom. It is placed directly under one of the extensor tendons. In consequence of this minute substance, the severest agony is endured, or the most marked lameness exhibited, whenever the leg is advanced.

The great majority of these maladies may result from the present rage for high action, and the too general practice of pushing the horse beyond his speed. Racers and hunters commonly have splints: almost every roadster exhibits them. Few draught-horses are without them: they are all but universal. It may be easy to detect or to feel a full-sized splint; but it is rather difficult to discover these tumors when they are small, or when they are just beginning to develop themselves. At that period they are most painful. They may be mere deformities when fully formed; but, when growing, though not to be seen, they are apt to cause decided lameness.

A HORSE "DISHING," OR CARRYING THE FRONT LEG OUTWARD, WHEN ON THE
TROT.
]

The cause of such failing action very often can only be guessed at. To detect a fully-developed splint, stand at the side of the animal's leg and grasp the posterior part of the shin; then, by running the thumb down on one side and the fingers on the other, in the groove formed by the junction of the two small splint-bones with the cannon-bone, the examiner may recognize enlargement or feel heat, should either exist. By making pressure where the heat or swelling is perceived, he may cause the leg to be snatched up. Should nothing result from this trial, the animal is trotted gently up and its action is observed. Horses with splints, when lame, generally "dish" or turn the leg outward, when it is raised from the ground. That is done because the bending of the limb pressed the splint-bone downward, the outward carriage of the shin being an endeavor to lessen the pain which attends upon the natural action.

Should no "dishing" be remarked, next observe whether the leg is fully flexed or advanced; and, after the hints thus received, the investigation may be resumed with a better prospect of success.

The treatment of splint is conveyed in the old maxim, "time and patience." Rest will do more than physic. A man, therefore, may as well let his horse rest in his own stable, as pay for rest, lodging, and useless treatment in another place. Splints, moreover, if only subjected to rest, accompanied with liberal feeding, are likely the sooner to attain their maximum magnitude. If they are interfered with under the pretense of treatment, the irritation may cause them to increase; thus the proprietor, through his impatience, may purchase an injury.

When they are acutely painful, a poultice, on which one drachm of opium and one drachm of camphor is sprinkled, will frequently afford relief. They may also, at such times, be rubbed with a drachm of chloroform combined with two drachms of camphorated oil. These measures, however simple, aim at mitigating the present symptoms--they do not even infer the possibility of curing the disease. Periostoteomy pretended to do something of that sort; but has failed so often, it is now seldom recommended by practiced veterinarians.

When, however, a particle of the bone interferes with a tendon, the lameness is so acute that often the choice lies between cure and death; for some, even of present proprietors, scorn to sell a favorite horse which has become sick in their service. In these cases, it is lawful to open the skin, and with a fine saw, a chisel or a sharp knife, to remove the offending growth; after the operation, leave the skin open and dress the wound with a lotion made of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one ounce. This application has the great merit of keeping down granulations; but employ nothing irritating to the bone, or the result may be worse than the injury which has been removed.

Splints sometimes occur on the outer side of the hind leg; there, however, they are little thought of. The hind leg propels the horse, but does not support its body; therefore, splints of this last sort are less unpleasant to the rider. The hind leg, not bearing much weight, splints, when situated on that member, do not occasion very severe lameness, and the enlargement being located upon the outside of the shin, is thereby removed from the possibility of being struck by the opposite hoof. For these reasons, splints of the foregoing nature are considered trifles, and are rarely esteemed worthy of much notice.

To check the further enlargement of a splint with a fair chance of also removing the deformity--though with no hope of releasing the parts locked together by bony union--employ the ointment already recommended for spavin:--

Iodide of lead One ounce.
Simple ointment Eight ounces.
Mix, and apply with friction thrice daily.

RING-BONE.

The whole soul of the horse seems devoted to man's will; who has not seen a team of small but sturdy horses contrive to drag a heavy load up a steep hill, as though nothing could afford them such content as to leave their hoofs behind them! What Londoner but has witnessed the cart-horse dig its toes into the stones of Ludgate Hill, and make the muscles bulge out upon the glossy coat as though life had but one object, and to that object the animal was straining every nerve!

A sight such as this, when properly contemplated, cannot otherwise than teach man to esteem his fellow-laborer; for what creature on earth toils so willingly in the service of humanity as the horse? At any hour it is ready--in health it is willing, and in sickness it is obedient; even when worn out, entirely used up and driven to the slaughter-house, it looks upon its slayer with large placid eyes, stands quietly in the place where it is bid, with no mistrust in the kindness of its abuser, and ends a life of devotion by accepting the blow almost as a favor. It is the only animal which lives but to more than share the burden of its owner; yet, of all existing quadrupeds, the horse is the most ill treated.

=Ring-bone= is an osseous deposit; so far it resembles splint and spavin: it differs, however, in the kind of horses it attacks. Splint and spavin are principally witnessed upon quadrupeds of speed. Ring-bone is all but confined to the cart-horse. It is caused by those violent efforts this animal makes, in obedience to the voice of the driver, when dragging a heavy load up some sharp ascent. The entire force is then thrown upon the bones of the pastern; inflammation ensues; lymph is effused; the lymph becomes cartilage, and the cartilage is converted into bone. Then an exostosis is established, and a ring-bone is the consequence.

The disease may implicate one or more bones; it may involve one or more joints; it may also be confined to one bone; it may be either partial or complete. It may exist as a slight enlargement in front of the bone, or it may quite encircle it. On page 299 is a specimen of the disease. The exostosis, as in this case, was prominent during life. The disease did not quite encircle the bones, and though, when the preparation was dried, the different parts could be slightly moved one upon another, yet, during life, the joints were firmly locked.

1. The joint between the pastern bones, showing the groove in which
the tendon of the extensor pedis muscle reposed.

2. The joint between the lower pastern and the bone of the foot.
]

The animal, from which the above sketch was taken, although used to
propel a cart, was by no means of a cart breed. The creature rather
hobbled than went lame; but all flexion was entirely lost in the
pastern bones.
]

One of the above sketches depicts this disease as it appeared prior to death. The reader has now to consider the consequences of such a deformity; it materially interferes with the value. The hind limbs are the instruments of propulsion in the horse; these are much incapacitated by the presence of ring-bone. An animal thus affected might move an easy load upon even ground; but when the weight had to be drawn up hill, the creature would obviously be unable to use the toe; the foot, placed flat upon the ground, or so shod as to have an even bearing, would perceptibly be of comparatively little use in such a case. So, also, in descending an inequality, the horse with severe ring-bone will be unable to bite the earth. Ring-bone, therefore, does incapacitate the animal for many uses, besides interfering with the free employment of the muscular energy; no persuasion or brutality can induce a maimed animal to cast its full weight upon a diseased limb. The pace may be quickened by the lash; but the horse will, nevertheless, continue to hop when the affected member touches the earth.

Let mankind, therefore, reflect that the horse is given as their fellow-laborer. The life of the quadruped is the property of the master; but who, being sane, would abuse his own property? The being who should destroy chairs and tables--although such things can be mended--would be speedily confined as mad. Yet it has not entered the mind of man, as a reasonable idea, that to deface a living image--to destroy the value or to deteriorate the property which is present in the animal--deserves more than the very mildest of punishments. The breathing creature, when defaced, cannot be made sound again. Horse property is notoriously hazardous. It should be the care of men to use a tender thing with a greater gentleness. Instead of which, horses are galloped till they become blind, and lashed to drag weights beyond the proper limits of their strength. Men, who never think in whom the fault really lies, complain that Providence has not suited the horse to purposes such as would derange most iron-wrought machines!

When a horse first shows ring-bone, seek to allay the pain. Apply poultices, on which one drachm of powdered opium and one of camphor has been sprinkled. Rub the disease with equal parts of oil of camphor and of chloroform. The pain having ceased, have applied, with friction, to the seat of enlargement and around it, some of the following ointment, night and morning:--

Iodide of lead One ounce.
Lard Eight ounces.
Mix.

Continue treatment for a fortnight after all active symptoms have disappeared, and allow the animal to rest--being liberally fed for at least a month subsequent to the cessation of every remedy. When work is resumed, mind it is gentle, and be very careful how the horse goes to its full labor.

STRAIN OF THE FLEXOR TENDON.

The flexor tendons of the legs are liable to a variety of accidents. Injuries to these structures, according to their severity, are denominated: =strain of the flexor tendon=, =clap of the back sinews=, =sprain of the back sinews=, and =breaking down=.

The first accident is common enough, and springs from the horse being forced to perform extraordinary work on uneven ground. Else it is caused by the irritability of the rider; tugging now at one rein, then at the other; forcing a timid animal into strange contortions, and at the same time elevating the head, thereby throwing all the strain upon the muscles. This is a spectacle repeatedly presented to him who walks about town. An angry rider is seen sawing, without compunction, at the mouth of some patient horse. The spectators look on complacently.

There is nothing offensive to them in an enraged man venting his anger on an unoffending creature. Were the act generally reprehended, it would not be so frequently exhibited; but the only emotion the contemplation of another's brutality appears to elicit, is a desire in the passengers to provide for their own security.

The main cause, however, of the most prevalent of these sad deformities is that of the shaft-horse descending a steep declivity with a load behind it. The weight would roll down the descent: this the horse has to prevent, and the chief stress is then upon the back tendons. The injuries to such parts are generally of a chronic character. The strain seldom occasions decided lameness. But the horse being harnessed to the shafts, the cause is in daily operation. The part injured is being constantly excited. Thus, without the development of a single acute symptom, the tendons are stretched--a low kind of inflammation is generated--and this action being kept up, the sinews gradually lose their elasticity, and shorten.

When strain of the fore leg is received, the animal goes oddly, but is not lame. However, if put into the stable and taken out the next morning, the horse is found to be stiff and apparently very cramped. The halting action may disappear upon exercise; but assuredly it will again be present on the following dawn. The proprietor may resolve to work "the brute" sound. Such a speculation with disease may occasionally answer; but, on the large scale, it is a losing game, for it more often fails than succeeds: the limb, on work, commonly does not amend. The symptoms are aggravated in every way; and what was curable in the first stage is apt, after the lapse of time, to degenerate into an intractable malady. The many horses to be seen in the London cab ranks, with the fore limbs permanently contracted, are evidences as to the result of such very knowing treatment.

When a horse slightly strains the flexor tendon, do not expect to discover the seat of the affection till several hours have elapsed. Then pass the hand gently down the injured limb. A small swelling may be detected. The enlargement may feel soft, slightly warm, but hardly tender. Bind a linen bandage round the leg rather tightly, and keep this constantly wet with cold water. For the three first nights, have men to sit up in the stable and perform that operation. After that time, if everything goes on well, wet the limb only during the day.

Throw up the horse till more than recovered, and do not put it to full work till some period after that event. Give immediately four drachms of aloes. Allow only two feeds of corn per day; but do not turn out to graze, under the idea that it saves cost and gives a chance that the animal may be taken up sound. At grass, the horse must walk many miles to eat poor food, sufficient to support life. This kind of motion will not suit a strain, which does best with absolute rest. Keep, therefore, in a stall, and do not begrudge the necessary meat to support the life which has suffered injury, and is now enduring pain, in consequence of exertion made in your service.

CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS.

When the accident is more severe, and the sprain more decided, it is spoken of as "=clap of the back sinews=;" this is a serious affair. The usual fate of the wretched animal thus maimed is to be sold to the highest bidder. It passes from a carefully-tended stable to some wretched out-shed; and its new master is made happy, if the crippled horse can only limp, and somehow get through a day's labor. No pity is wasted upon agony; "the beast," as it is now called, has to live worse, work harder, and drag out a miserable existence with the heavy burden of an almost useless limb.

THE EARLIEST SYMPTOM OF CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS, OR SEVERE SPRAIN OF
THE TENDON.
]

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.

The earliest attention commonly paid to sprain of the back sinews of
the hind leg.
]

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."

THE SURE RESULT OF CONTINUED WORK AFTER STRAIN OF THE BACK TENDONS.
]

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.

THE LINES MADE, FOR SOME IMAGINARY BENEFIT, WITH A HEATED IRON, UPON
THE HOCK OF A HORSE HAVING CURB.
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