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.