DISHASES OF THE HORSE, 
AND 
THE ACCIDENTS TO WHICH HE IS° LIABLE, 
WITH THEIR TREATMENT. 
CHAPTER XXV. 
THE DISEASES AND INJURIES OF BONE. 
OENERAL REMARKS—SPLINTS—RINGBONE AND SIDEBONE—OSSIFICATION OF THE LATERAT, 
CARTILAGES—BONE SPAVIN—EXOSTOSIS OF THE HUMERUS AND SCAPULA—FISTULA OF 
THE WITHERS—POLL EVIL—CARIES OF THE JAW—OSTEO SARCOMA—FRACTURES, 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
THE DISEASES OF BONE are not commonly attended by any constitu- 
tional disturbance, and neither require an examination of general symptoms, 
nor the adoption of any but local treatment, beyond that attention to the 
health which is always necessary. They may all be included undex the 
heads of,—Ist. Exostosis, or increased growth of bone. 2d. Caries, or 
ulceration. 3d. Anchylosis, or unnatural union of two bones, in conse- 
quence of exostosis, or caries, or both. 4th. Fractures, or disunion by 
external force. Malignant diseases of the bone also occur very rarely in 
the horse, so that it will be scarcely necessary to occupy any space with 
their description, especially as they are perfectly incurable. 
Exosrosis is the result of increased action in the nutrition of the part, 
and is much more prevalent in young horses than in old. Indeed, after 
six or seven years of age it is very rarely met with, and never attacks the 
bones at that age for the first time. It may be recognised by a hard 
swelling of the part, which in recent cases is painful on pressure; but 
sometimes its site cannot be reached with the finger, and the disease can 
then only’ be detected by its effects. A blow upon any of the bones 
when unprotected by anything but skin will produce inflammation fol- 
lowed by exostosis ; but the most ordinary cause is the over-stimulus of 
hard work. Heavy horses are more prone to exostosis than light ones, 
partly from the weight of their bodies and their high lumbering action 
jarring their limbs in a greater degree, but also from the more spongy and 
open texture of their bones which admit of the pressure of large blood 
vessels within them, and are thus more lable to congestion, and conse- 
quent morbid secretion. Exostosis is shown in the form of splints, ring- 
and sidebone, and ossified lateral cartilages, as well as in the growths 
which occur occasionally in other parts of the body which have teceived 
