344 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



The minimum period allowable for solid union in a fractured hip 

 is, in our judgment, tAvo months, and we have known cases in which 

 that was too short a time. 



As we have said before, there may be cases in which the treatment 

 for fracture at the floor of the pelvis has been followed by symptoms 

 of partial paralysis, the animal, when lying down, being unable to 

 regain his feet, but moving freely when placed in an upright position. 

 This condition is owing to the interference of the callus with the func- 

 tions of the obturator nerve, which it presses upon or surrounds. By 

 my experience in similar cases I feel warranted in cautioning owners 

 of horses in this condition to exercise due patience, and to avoid a 

 premature sentence of condemnation against their invalid servants; 

 they are not all irrecoverably paralytic. With alternations of mod- 

 erate exercise, rest in the slings, and the effect of time while the 

 natural process of absorption is taking effect upon the callus, with 

 other elements of change that may be so operating, the horse in due 

 time may become able once more to earn his subsistence and serve 

 his master. 



FRACTURE OF THE SCAPULA. 



This bone is seldom fractured, its comparative exemption being due 

 to its free mobility and the protection it receives from the superim- 

 posed soft tissues. Only direct and powerful causes are sufficient to 

 effect the injury, and when it occurs the large rather tlian the smaller 

 animals are the subjects. 



Cause. — The causes are heavy blows or kicks and violent collisions 

 with umdelding objects. Those which are occasioned by falls are 

 generally at the neck of the bone, and of the transverse and commi- 

 nuted varieties. * 



Symptoms. — The diagnosis is not always eas}'. The symptoms are 

 inabilitj'' to rest the leg on the ground and to carry weights, and they 

 are present in various degi^ees from slight to severe. The leg rests 

 upon the toe, seems shortened, and locomotion is performed by 

 jumps. Moving the leg while examining it and raising the foot for 

 inspection seem to produce much pain and cause the animal to rear. 

 Crepitation is readily felt with the hand upon the shoulder when the 

 leg is moved. If the fracture occurs in the upper part of the bone, 

 overlapping of the fragments and displacement will be considerable. 



The fracture of this bone is usually classed among the more serious 

 accidents, though cases may occur which are follovred by recovery 

 without very serious ultimate results, especially when the seat of the 

 injury is at some of the upper angles of the bone or about the acro- 

 mion crest. But if the neck and the joint are the parts involved, 

 complications Avhich are likely to disable the animal for life are 

 liable to be present. 



