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!
[Illustration: A PARK NAG WITH BONE SPAVIN LED OUT OF THE STABLE.]
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.
[Illustration: BONE SPAVIN.
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.
[Illustration:
THE _inside_ OF THE FORE LEG, SHOWING THE VESSELS PROPER TO THAT
PART OF THE LIMB GENERALLY AFFECTED BY OSSEOUS DEPOSITS.
]
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
]
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
THE NATURAL POSITION OF THE HEALTHY FOOT WHEN RAISED FROM THE EARTH
DURING AN EASY TROT.
]
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration: A SICKLE-HOCKED OR COW-HOCKED HORSE.]
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.
[Illustration: THE POINTS OF VIEW WHENCE TO LOOK FOR SPAVIN IN A HORSE.]
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.
[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH TO FEEL FOR A SPAVIN.]
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.
[Illustration: THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPLINT.
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.
[Illustration: SPLINTS OF A SERIOUS KIND.
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.
[Illustration:
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!
[Illustration: A HORSE STRAINING TO MOUNT A STEEP HILL.]
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.
[Illustration: THE PASTERN AND PEDAL BONE OF A HORSE AFFECTED WITH SEVERE
RING-BONE.
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.
]
[Illustration: THE FOOT OF A LIVING HORSE WITH AGGRAVATED RING-BONE.
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration: THE BLEMISH LEFT BY CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS.]
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.
[Illustration: HIGH CALKINS.
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."
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration: BREAKING DOWN.]
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.
[Illustration: THE CONSEQUENCE OF "BREAKING DOWN" IN THE HORSE.]
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.
[Illustration: A CURB.]
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.
[Illustration: A CLEAN HOCK.]
[Illustration: A CURBY HOCK, SLIGHTLY BULGING OUT BEHIND.]
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.
[Illustration: AN INDIA-RUBBER BANDAGE, FOR KEEPING WET CLOTHS UPON A
CURB.]
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.
[Illustration:
THE LINES MADE, FOR SOME IMAGINARY BENEFIT, WITH A HEATED IRON, UPON
THE HOCK OF A HORSE HAVING CURB.
]
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.
[Illustration: THE SUREST MANNER OF PRODUCING CURB.]
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.
[Illustration:
THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE LEG IS CAUGHT UP WHEN OCCULT SPAVIN EXISTS;
ALSO THE VIEW OF THE FOOT PRESENTED TO THE SPECTATOR WHO IS PLACED
AT THE SIDE OF THE HORSE, WHEN, DURING THIS DISEASE, THE LEG IS IN
MOTION.
]
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.
[Illustration:
THE DISEASED BONES OF THE HOCK. THE DARK PLACE INDICATES WHERE THE
ULCERATION IS GOING FORWARD.
]
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.
[Illustration: THE STEAMING APPARATUS USED IN BRONCHITIS.]
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:--
Compound soap liniment Sixteen ounces.
Liquor of ammonia Two ounces.
Tincture of cantharides Two ounces.
Tincture of opium Two ounces.
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.
[Illustration: A HORSE DRESSED FOR RHEUMATISM.]
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:--
Tincture of cantharides One ounce.
Camphorated oil Half an ounce.
Tincture of opium Half an ounce.
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.
[Illustration: THE SITUATIONS AND SHAPES OF WIND-GALLS.]
[Illustration: WIND-GALLS, AS THEY APPEARED TO THE AUTHOR, UPON
DISSECTION.]
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.
[Illustration:
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WIND-GALLS AND THE PUFFINESS OF THE SYNOVIAL
MEMBRANE, PROPER TO THE FLEXOR TENDONS, WHICH ENSUES UPON EXCESSIVE
LABOR.
]
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.
[Illustration:
BOG SPAVIN, OR DISTENTION OF THE PRINCIPAL SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE OF THE
HOCK-JOINT.
]
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.
[Illustration: THOROUGH-PIN.]
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.
[Illustration:
DISSECTION OF THOROUGH-PIN AND BOG SPAVIN, DEMONSTRATING THE
JUNCTION OF THE TWO AFFECTIONS.
]
The horse which exhibits bog spavin and thorough-pin also generally shows
wind-galls on the hind legs. Let the reader consider the hard usage the
limb must have undergone before it could have become thus deranged.
Here is a specimen, demonstrating the connection which exists between
thorough-pin and bog spavin. It was made in consequence of Mr. Varnell
having informed the author that thorough-pin was a bulging out of the
synovial sheath, proper to the flexor tendon; and was not, as is generally
taught and credited, an enlarged bursa. The author found them to be in
accordance with the description he had received: the enlargement called
thorough-pin, and the synovial membrane of the hock, had united, and free
communication existed between them, in the joint which the writer examined.
Nature formed the synovial cavity of the joint as a distinct and
separate part. It is usual for teachers to promulgate a maxim that
Nature is all-wise. Man, however, it appears, can violently disarrange
her provisions; yet, by his fellow-men, he is accounted to have done no
wrong who destroys the harmony of Nature. Thorough-pin is not, in popular
estimation, essentially unsoundness. A horse thus disfigured is believed,
nay, professionally pronounced to be, perfect, although two distinct parts
are battered into one. If two are beneficial, why was one only created?
The horse may not be lame; but, granting Nature to be all-wise, must not
the uses for which the limb was designed be injured? The question is not,
whether an animal trots sound; but it is, whether it really is sound. What
sane man would assert such to be the case, where the anatomical structures
have been disorganized?
CAPPED KNEE.
=Capped knee=, in the fore limb, answers to bog spavin in the hind leg;
the diseases are alike in most respects. Both affect the principal
articulation of a complicated joint; both may be provoked by the like
causes; but the fore leg, being less exposed to shocks than the hinder
member, must have been much abused before it could become thus deformed.
[Illustration: THE SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE OF THE KNEE-JOINT ENLARGED.]
Blows, also, are common originators of capped knee. This disorder is
likewise peculiar for a course it takes. The fluid within the swollen
joint is, upon excitement, secreted in such quantity as to tighten the
enlargement. Ultimately it lames the horse, and at length bulges out, or
points, after the manner of an abscess. If let alone, it would burst. Much
of the surrounding parts would have to be absorbed or would be effectually
destroyed before such a termination could ensue. The life would be
endangered, or a lasting blemish would be left behind. To prevent this,
the surgeon draws the skin to one side, and, holding the point of his
lancet upward, opens the capped knee upon its lower surface. A quantity
of synovia, more or less in a turbid state, escapes, and an open joint
remains. For the treatment of this contingency, the reader must turn to
"Open Joint." (_Injuries._)
Capped knee is, by certain persons, viewed as a trivial accident.
Generally, however, it is regarded in a more serious light, because it is
_more conspicuous_ than bog spavin. We also should object to it, because,
while liable to the same changes as wind-galls, etc., it is also likely
to expose the horse to an open joint. It is, like wind-galls and bog
spavin, to be reduced by pressure, though sometimes pressure will call up
aggravated symptoms. Rest is the best treatment; during the rest pressure
may be safely applied. Pressure does not answer, however, while the limb
is exposed to the irritation of work. The horse must be thrown up during
treatment, and gently used after the animal has been patched up or "cured."
CAPPED HOCK.
When an injury is formed near an important part, Nature is so conservative
of her creature's welfare that she always has some means ready to preserve
the utility of the structure. Thus when, from external violence, the hock
becomes capped, or a swelling like to that represented in the following
engraving ensues, to prevent the joint being thrown out of use Nature
allows the skin to enlarge. The cap of a hock, originally, was a bursa.
A bursa is a little bladder or round sac, formed of the finest possible
membrane, and filled with a fluid similar to joint oil. Its use is to
facilitate motion; hence it eases the tightened skin over the points of
the bony hock. But when it becomes deranged and swollen, the skin, which
was dense, hard, and solid, stretches so as to cover the increase of bulk.
[Illustration: CAPPED HOCK.]
[Illustration: THE LARGEST SPECIMEN OF CAPPED HOCK WHICH THE AUTHOR HAS
MET WITH.]
The tumor, however, having been produced, may in time subside, should
the injury which provoked it not be repeated. Too often, however, the
cause springs from motives over which the animal has no control; and the
violence being renewed again and again, the swelling enlarges, and that
which was soft and pulpy at first becomes hard to the feel, while all
sensation of fluid disappears. The provocative being repeated, the part
first grows firm, then solid, while its bulk also enlarges to a fearful
magnitude. There appears to be no limit to the size; but the largest the
author has encountered was nineteen inches in its greatest circumference,
and seriously interfered with progression. Above, on the right hand, is a
portrait of the tumor.
These unsightly growths have two causes--the ignorance of the groom
and the timidity of the animal. To speak of the last first: Dogs will
dream; often, as they lie before the fire, they work their legs and utter
suppressed noises, being at the time soundly asleep. Dogs also have
imagination. Almost everybody must have remarked the dog slink away from
some object which is to be indistinctly seen in the dusk of evening.
Nobody, however, seems to have credited the horse with either of these
faculties. Because it is of service to man, it is appropriated, and the
attributes belonging to the creature are overlooked; the groom locks
the stable door, and, having bedded the horses down, leaves them in the
dark, "comfortable" for the night. One dreams--awakens in terror, similar
to that which causes children to start out of their sleep with terrible
crying. The hind legs are the means of defense with the horse; it has no
other, for it seldom, and not habitually, employs its teeth. The animal,
in alarm, begins kicking, for terror becomes powerful as the reason
diminishes. Animals have passions; these man can, in himself, subdue with
reason; but the poor horse has no reason to restrain its emotions. Fear,
once awakened, unopposed, possesses it; it begins to kick before it knows
why. Bodies of men are exposed to panics. Can we wonder, therefore, at a
timid and unreasoning animal being subject to the same influences? The
kicking commenced, terror spreads; and a whole stable full of horses,
each chained to its stall, each alone, forbidden the consolation of
society, and prevented from scampering from the unknown horror, takes
up the action; thus thirty or forty horses may be heard, in the depth
and darkness of a night, kicking at the same time. The hind legs, when
forcibly projected, are apt to hit the point of the hock; the bursa there
developed is injured by the blow, and a capped limb is the consequence.
Another cause is kicking while in harness. This habit is always attributed
to vice: to speak of vice as associated with the ideas of a simple animal
is purely ridiculous. Fear is a much more probable cause, if man would
only expand his understanding to comprehend the motives likely to actuate
an unreasoning creature; vice is far too heroic an impulse, far too human
a failing, for the horse to embody. Fear is essentially an animal passion;
that some mighty influence agitates the quadruped, when it begins to
kick in harness, is proved by the serious accidents the horse encounters
through this habit. No life can be careless of its own existence; all
creatures are conservatives where their own being is concerned. Would
mankind only admit this fact, and seek to gain the confidence of, as they
now labor to establish authority over, the horse, gentle words, spoken
when the impulse was awakened, might reassure the animal, and would thus
frequently save the owner from impending danger.
A third cause is lazy drivers riding on cart-horses, when unhooked, as
leaders of the wagon; the poles, called spreaders, which keep the chains
asunder, frequently hang so low that, at every movement of the leg,
they strike the point of the hock. The uneven paving of some stables is
likewise said to produce the disease; in short, anything which may cause
the point of the calcis to suffer violence will produce a capped hock.
The cure for capped hock has been differently directed. Some hobble the
hind legs of the horse, to prevent its kicking in the night; some fasten
a chain and a log to one hind limb, for the same purpose; others suspend
a piece of loose cloth at the back of the horse; but the best plan is
always to leave a lantern lighted in the stable. The power to see around
reassures timidity, while darkness is an awful instigator of terror;
horses often fly back in their stalls, but never kick, during daylight.
Then, as to the cure: Such a tumor, when recent, is hot and somewhat
painful; at this time, keep it wet with cold water or with a lotion formed
of spirits of wine and water in equal parts; when the tenderness has
subsided, procure some men who want employment and have strong arms; set
these fellows to rub the cap of the hock constantly, and the tumor, in
three or four days, or in less time, will have disappeared.
[Illustration:
THE SKIN FROM BENEATH WHICH THE TUMOR OF CAPPED HOCK HAS BEEN
REMOVED.
]
Should the enlargement, however, have become hard, the knife then must
be employed; the horse must be cast, and the substance must be carefully
dissected out without opening the sac. This being done, remove none of the
skin; leave that bagging about the hock; simply treat it with a lotion
composed of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one ounce, and the
integument will contract. Ultimately there will remain no more than will
be required to cover the part, whereas, if any be taken away, the wound,
which in these cases never heals quickly, will be very long before it
closes, and, in proportion to the skin which has been removed, there will
remain a lasting blemish.
There is another caution we have to give the reader before leaving this
subject; let no advice persuade, no temptation induce him to puncture,
seton, or merely to open capped hock. The membrane lining the swelling
is, when diseased, so extremely sensitive that the writer has known the
lives of animals endangered by these so-called remedies. The author,
moreover, never knew the enlargement to be much reduced by these means;
neither has it been the author's lot to witness much good follow the
application of blisters. No; extirpation is the only remedy, and it
should be accomplished without puncturing the sac; this is as safe an
operation as there is in the entire range of veterinary surgery. There
is neither nerve, muscle, membrane, vessel, nor any important structure
to avoid; with ordinary care, the removal is most easy. There is but one
thing annoying connected with the business, and that is, the length of
time which the healing of a necessary wound, made upon a point of motion,
almost invariably occupies.
CAPPED ELBOW.
This is very common, especially among cart-horses; it is attributed to the
calkin of the fore foot; to the point of the hind hoof; or to a stable
floor, thinly bedded, and composed of sharp stones. So, likewise, blows
with the butt-end of the whip will induce it; but the harness probably
guards the elbow, which therefore can be struck only in exceptional cases.
[Illustration: A CAPPED ELBOW.]
It consists of a bursa, which, as in the former instance, has been
injured, and has consequently enlarged; in appearance and in its
subsequent course it greatly resembles capped hock, from which it differs
only in a greater liability to ulcerate and become sinuous when allowed
to remain until it is of extreme magnitude. It is said to derive that
unenviable peculiarity from being situated nearer to the center of
circulation. Capped hock is so little disposed to take on such a form of
disease that the author cannot remember having seen a case of the kind;
with a tumor on the elbow, however, ulceration is unfortunately too
common. That probability should forbid the owner to allow the tumor to
attain any great size; when large, moreover, it is apt to encircle the
elbow-joint, and then its size seems to render the removal apparently
impossible. It, however, may be extirpated. All said of capped hock
applies to capped elbow.
LUXATION OF THE PATELLA.
That is displacement of the whirl-bone of the stifle, (which answers to
the knee-cap of the human being.) Such an accident, fortunately, few
horses incur; there are many veterinary surgeons who, during a practice
extending over many years, have not encountered a single case; whereas
other gentlemen will have hardly started in their profession before
=luxation of the patella= is submitted to their notice. It is not peculiar
to any district, it is not confined to any special breed; it may affect
all kinds of horses in all sorts of places; for it is produced more by
the parsimony or the uncharitableness of mankind than by any fault in the
structure of the animal.
In several localities throughout the country agriculturists, under the
notion of saving money, determine to rear horses on short grass. The
creatures are out in the fields during all kinds of weather; the body
becomes debilitated under such a starvation system; those parts which are
naturally weak become weaker, while those structures which were originally
endowed with strength grow comparatively stronger. The beautiful balance
of nature is overthrown, and each portion becomes at discord with all the
rest; any trivial disease may destroy the life thus at war within its own
dominion. Colts frequently exhibit luxation of the patella before they
are broken; but it is always provoked by weakness, and commonly only seen
where the management is faulty or the food is stinted.
When the whirl-bone is displaced, it is always found as an unnatural
lump upon the outer side of the thigh; it cannot, for three sufficient
reasons, be drawn to the inner part of the leg. The inner condyle of the
humerus, over which the patella plays, is sufficiently large to oppose any
unnatural motion in that direction; the inner ligaments are the weakest,
and are, therefore, most readily stretched in the outward direction; the
circumstances permit the bone to be displaced from the inside of the leg.
Then, moreover, the muscles are altogether more powerful upon the outer
side. Any force acts more energetically as debility increases, and, to
favor it, there is less resistance in the direction opposite to which the
force pulls; for these reasons the bone is invariably luxated upon the
outer side of the animal's haunch.
[Illustration: THE PATELLA, OR WHIRL-BONE DISPLACED.]
The symptoms denoting luxation of the patella are: the leg thrust out
behind, and remaining fixed; the horse's entire frame is affected; the
head is erect; the muscles quiver; the pastern of the protruded leg is
violently flexed; there is an unnatural swelling upon the outer and
lower part of the buttock. If the animal be forced to move, it can only
imperfectly hop upon three legs; such an accident may occur at any time,
and never be repeated. It may, however, become so common as to be mistaken
for a species of habit; for luxation of the patella, when by frequency
confirmed, will take place upon the slightest possible cause.
In stinted colts the most trivial motion will often give rise to this
accident; the creature can hardly move without its leg being thrust out
behind it. The cure is, in these cases, anything which may flurry the
animal. A noise, made by moving the hand quickly and rather energetically
from side to side within a hat, the crack of a whip, or any sudden and
loud sound, will occasion the bone to return, with apparent ease and the
utmost rapidity, to its natural situation. The colt, however, may the next
moment exhibit the misfortune which, in young life, can only be cured by
kindly treatment and liberal sustenance.
Probably the author will best describe the nature of the affection in old
animals, by narrating a case which a few years ago happened to himself.
At the request of a friend he visited one of those auction marts for the
sale of horses which in London are somewhat notorious. The object of his
visit being, if possible, to purchase, his attention was directed to
certain animals. As usual, a glance enabled him to pass by all the marked
"lots," and he had reached the third stable, when his eye rested on a
horse which seemed wrongly placed among such companions. It was lively,
young, clean legged, short backed, well ribbed up--in fact, one of those
rare creatures every inch of which seems made for service. The height was
fifteen hands three inches; the color was a dark brown. The author tried
in vain to discover if it had any "vice." It appeared perfectly quiet. He
examined the feet; he could detect no unsoundness. He went to the office
and ascertained the price--twenty-four guineas! It was too cheap! Such an
animal would be thrown away if sold for fifty guineas. "Would they give a
warranty?" "It was not their custom to give any warranty." "Had the horse
megrims?" "No." "Would they grant a trial?" "It was contrary to their
rules." Still the author wanted to buy; he would "deposit the cash, and if
all proved right take the horse." "They never granted trials; but there
stood the owner--the writer could talk to him."
The person alluded to was lounging close to the writer's elbow, and was
habited in that half-blackleg, half-blackguard costume which characterizes
the low London dealer. The contemplation of this individual did not
improve any previous opinion of the matter. However, the man's eye
was firmly fixed upon that of his would-be customer, and, rather than
encounter a disturbance, the author approached the fellow, to whom he
repeated his request. The answers given were too similar to those received
from the clerk for the likeness to be purely accidental. The dealer
nevertheless saw a trial was imperative to convert the inquirer into a
purchaser; and, rightly judging from appearance that there was little of
the jocky in the writer's attainments, reluctantly consented to afford the
demanded test.
The horse was speedily between the shafts of a very light gig. The man
took the reins, placed the whip behind him, and we moved off at the
gentlest of possible trots. No objection was taken to the pace; it gave
the better opportunity of examining into the soundness. All was right in
that particular. The steps were loud and even. After some time, during
which the man frequently inquired if "I had had trial enough _now?_"
we left the paved streets, but no entreaty could cause the pace to be
improved. At length we came to a rise in the ground, and, as it was
approached, my companion turned sulky. Hardly had the horse began to
ascend the inequality, before it suddenly stood quite still. The gig was
brought to with a jerk, which almost threw both of its occupants upon
the footboard. The author was the first out of the vehicle; there stood
the horse--the leg out, the foot flexed, the head erect--displaying the
evident symptom of luxation of the patella.
An inn was fortunately near the spot. To the yard of the hostelry the
animal was with difficulty led. Being sheltered in an unoccupied building,
a groom was placed at the horse's head. A long rope, thrown over a beam,
was fastened to the fetlock of the protruded limb. By this rope the owner
stood; and while he pulled the leg upward and forward, the writer was by
the quarters, with both hands pushing the luxated bone inward. The patella
soon slipped into its situation; and the horse was afterward sold by
auction for four guineas more than the author had refused to pay for it.
[Illustration: THE MANNER OF RETURNING THE PATELLA OF AN ADULT ANIMAL.]
Mr. Spooner, in his lectures at the Royal Veterinary College, always
recommends his hearers, after this bone has been returned, to place an
assistant by the horse's side, with strict orders to hold the patella in
its situation for some hours. Such advice is most excellent; to which
we can only add, perfect rest, and as much strengthening food as the
animal can consume. If such measures are pursued, and the horse be not
used for six weeks subsequent to the accident, there need be little fear
entertained of a second luxation of the patella.
BLOOD SPAVIN.
This disease is, happily, with the past; the writer has not seen an
instance. Neither had the late Mr. Percival--the highest veterinary
authority--after a life laboriously passed in scientific research. It is
described to have existed as varicosity of the vena saphena, where the
vessel crosses the hock. The cause is said to have been bog spavin when of
magnitude: this, it is asserted, opposed circulation within the vessel;
but the author conjectures the swelling must have assumed the callous
state, before it could have offered sufficient resistance to the flow of
blood to occasion the vessel to enlarge or to become varicose.
There is no cure for such a disease. The knife may remove the deformity
but a larger blemish was often left as the consequence of the operation.
Should such a case be known to any of the present readers, the author
would advise the enlargement should be left alone, and trust placed in the
absorbing powers of nature for its removal.
[Illustration: A BLOOD SPAVIN, AS IT IS REPORTED TO HAVE ONCE EXISTED.]