.—The DEFECT so termed is an injury frequently sustained in the HIP JOINT, but not always with the same degree of severity. It is a ligamentary twist, or distortion, by which the junction of the bones is materially affected, but not amounting to absolute DISLOCATION; although it may proceed from a variety of causes, in sudden shocks from the different prominences of, or cavities in, an uneven and irregular pavement; BLOWS, STRAINS, or WRENCHES, (in drawing heavy loads,) as well as by SLIDING, or FALLING; yet there is little doubt but it occurs much oftner from carelessness, inattention, and brutality, either by a violent blow from the post of the stable door, in being hastily led in or out, than by any other means whatever. Let what will be the cause, a cure is seldom completely effected; for as the injury is not only deeply, but critically seated, so if the horse, after any medical means have been used, is turned out to obtain strength, a repetition of work generally produces a relapse of the injury originally sustained.
HOCK, or HOUGH
.—The joint of the leg behind, corresponding with the knee before, is so called. Its office, in sustaining the principal weight, and various turns of the body, renders it liable to injuries, which, when they happen, are not unfrequently both severe and permanent. Bone spavins, BLOOD SPAVINS, and CURBS, are of this description.
HOLD
—is a term of trifling import, yet, as it appertains to the important act of propagation between the HORSE and the MARE, its emphatic signification cannot be omitted. When a mare has taken the horse, that is, when copulation is completed, a doubt generally arises, whether the MARE will hold; that is, whether she sufficiently retains the male semen to constitute CONCEPTION. The mare being brought to the horse on the ninth day, from the first time of covering, if she again receives the horse, that alone is held a sufficient proof she did not hold before: she is, nevertheless, brought again to the horse at the end of another nine days, and when she has refused twice to take the horse, she is then said to be STINTED, and no doubt entertained of her being in FOAL.
HOOF
.—The hoof of a horse is that hard and horny substance at the lower extremity of the legs, coming into contact with the ground, and upon which are placed shoes, made of iron, for the preservation of the feet. The hoof, to be perfect and uniform, should nearly circumscribe five eighths of a circle, with a transverse line from one point of the heel to the other, as if a segment of three eighths was taken away; in addition to which form, it should be solid in substance, smooth to the hand, and free from the contracted rings, or wrinkles, similar to those upon the horns of cattle, by which the age is ascertained.
Hoofs are very different in both property and appearance, and a great deal of this depends upon the manner in which they are treated. The well-known and well-founded adage, that "Doctors differ," was never more verified than in the subject before us; previous to the necessary remarks upon which, it will be proper to point out the distinct or opposite texture and property of such hoofs, before we advert to the most applicable mode of treatment for each. The hoofs of some horses are so naturally dry, and so defective in animal moisture, that they gradually contract, become apparently compressed, and narrow at the heel, as well as acquire a degree of brittleness hardly to be believed; in which state splinters are frequently scaling off from the EDGES of the HOOF, at many places where the nails are unavoidably inserted to secure the position of the SHOE, for the preservation of the FOOT.
These are the species of hoof much more susceptible of injury than any other, particularly of SANDCRACKS; defects which, when they happen, very much reduce the value of the horse if offered for sale; not more in respect to the BLEMISH, than the perpetual apprehension and expectation of his becoming irrecoverably LAME. Hoofs of this description should be plentifully impregnated with sperma-cæti oil every night all round the foot; and the bottom should be stopped with a composition of stiff cow-dung, and the skimming of the pot in which fat meat has been boiled, previously preserved, and well incorporated for that purpose. It has been asserted by those who speculate, and propagate the report of fancy for FACT, that "unctuous or greasy applications are prejudicial to the feet," of which indefinite, vague and imperfect expression, the weak and wavering happily avail themselves, and boldly declare, under sanction of the equivocal mutation in meaning, that every thing greasy is injurious to the HOOFS.
It is a degree of justice that so egregious an absurdity should be exposed. Without descending to a minute and scientific analyzation of the hoof in its animated state, to ascertain how far it is, or is not, a POROUS substance, it becomes only necessary to demonstrate its possessing the property of ABSORPTION from external application. That this may be the more clearly comprehended, let it be remembered, if a single drop of SPERMA-CÆTI OIL is left upon a quire of white paper, it will, by its penetrative property, pass through each leaf of the quire, till every particle of its moisture is exhausted, where it terminates in a space little larger than the point of a needle: from whence it is fair to infer, this article, in a state of perfect liquefaction, will insinuate itself into, or go through, any possible substance where a liquid can be supposed to pass: this admitted, upon clear and indisputable proof, it becomes necessary to proceed to its effect upon the dry, hard, contracted, brittle hoof of the HORSE.