nt._--In young foals no treatment is necessary, unless there is
some deformity present, since the legs straighten up without
interference in the course of a few weeks. When knuckling has commenced,
the indications are to relieve the tendons and ligaments by proper
shoeing. The foot is to be prepared for the shoe by shortening the toe
as much as possible, leaving the heels high; or if the foot is prepared
in the usual way the shoe should be thin in front, with thick heels or
high calks. For the hind feet a long-heeled shoe with calks seems to do
best. Of course, when possible, the causes of knuckling are to be
removed; since this can not always be done, however, the time may come
when the patient can no longer perform any service, particularly in
those cases in which both fore legs are affected, and it becomes
necessary either to destroy the animal or obtain relief by surgical
interference. In such cases the tendons between the fetlock and knee may
be divided for the purpose of obtaining temporary relief. Firing and
blistering the parts responsible for the knuckling may, in some
instances, effect a cure; but a consideration of these measures belongs
properly to the treatment of the disease in which knuckling appears
simply as a sequel.

WINDGALL.

Joints and tendons are furnished with sacs containing a lubricating
fluid called synovia. When these sacs are overdistended by reason of an
excessive secretion of synovia, they are called windgalls. They form a
soft, puffy tumor about the size of a hickory nut, and are most often
found in the fore leg, at the upper part of the fetlock joint, between
the tendon and the shin bone. When they develop in the hind leg it is
not unusual to see them reach the size of a walnut. Occasionally they
appear in front of the fetlock on the border of the tendon. The majority
of horses are not subject to them after colt-hood has passed. (See also
p. 355.)

_Causes._--Windgalls are often seen in young, overgrown horses, in which
the body seems to have outgrown the ability of the joints to sustain the
weight. In cart and other horses used to hard work, in trotters with
excessive knee action, in hurdle racers and hunters, and in most cow
ponies there is a predisposition to windgalls. Street-car horses and
others used to start heavy loads on slippery streets are the ones most
liable to develop windgalls in the hind legs.

_Symptoms._--The tumor is more or less firm and tense when the foot is