HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



59 



stant bleeding from the mouth, on the 

 slightest contact of the bit. When this 

 occurs, the mouth being full of pink 

 froth, it should be carefully examined, 

 and the state of things here described 

 will generally be found to exist. The 

 treatment should consist in the adop- 

 tion of a bit pressing upon another 

 part of the mouth, changing the curb for 

 a snaffle. The wound should be kept 

 open by the use of caustic (lunar) daily, 

 which should be pushed deeply into it 

 for a couple of seconds, and will destroy 

 the unhealthy granulations. By continu- 

 ing these measures, taking care not to 

 do more with the caustic than necessary 

 to keep down the fungus growth, a cure 

 can always be effected in the course of 

 time, without the aid of the trephine or 

 chisel to cut away the diseased bone. 



HORSE, Osteo Sarcoma. — The jaws are 

 occasionally attacked by a malignant 

 growth from their cellular struct- 

 ure of a substance partaking of the 

 nature both of cartilage and bone. 

 It increases sometimes to an enor- 

 mous size, and forms a large, irregular 

 tumor, which interferes terribly with their 

 functions, often growing so as to prevent 

 the closure of the teeth. The symptoms 

 are entirely local, and when a large, un- 

 wieldy, and irregularly hard swelling on 

 either of the jaws is met with, it may 

 safely be set down as belonging to this 

 class of disease. No treatment is of any 

 avail except excision, which can rarely be 

 carried through without rendering the 

 horse unserviceable for his ordinary du- 

 ties. 



HORSE, Fractures. — Bones are not 

 unfrequently broken in the horse ; but as 

 the accident generally occurs either dur- 

 ing the violent exertion of the muscles of 

 the limb, or from great external force, it 

 follows that in most cases the injury to the 

 soft parts is so great as to forbid the hope 

 of a perfect reparation. When, for in- 

 stance, a canna or pastern bone gives way 

 during the shock sustained in coming 

 down on hard ground from a leap, either 

 at the moment of the fracture or before 

 the horse can be stopped, the upper end 

 pierces the skin, and also tears or bruises 

 the tendons which alone connect it to the 

 part below. In surgical language, the 

 fracture is a compound one ; and from 

 the great tendency to contraction of the 



muscles, the difficulty of bringing the dis- 

 united ends into apposition (or setting 

 them) is immense. Moreover, the horse 

 is very unmanageable' when an attempt is 

 made to confine him, and the means 

 which are adopted to keep the fracture set 

 must therefore be very complete as com- 

 pared with those which will serve for the 

 restoration of the human being who has 

 sustained a similar accident. Hence, un- 

 less the animal is wanted for stud pur- 

 poses alone, or unless the fracture is a 

 simple one, with little displacement, it will 

 seldom be worth the attempt to procure 

 the union of a broken bone in the horse. 

 Many cases are on record in which after 

 a fracture of a canna or pastern bone a. 

 complete cure has been effected, but they 

 must be considered as exceptional, and 

 not as affording us much encouragements 

 The symptoms of simple fracture are a 

 greater or less degree of deformity of the 

 limb, swelling, pain on motion, and a pe- 

 culiar grating or jarring which is felt 

 rather than heard, and which has received 

 the name of " crepitus." The last symp- 

 tom can only be made out when the 

 broken ends of the bone can be brought 

 together ; but when this is impossible, the 

 alteration of form is in itself sufficient to 

 lead to a detection of the nature of the 

 accident. In fractures of the head and 

 spine there is no crepitus felt, and the 

 effect upon the brain and spinal cord of 

 pressure will be often the sole means of 

 coming to a correct diagnosis. Frac- 

 tures of the pelvis are very difficult to 

 make out, unless the ala of the ilium is- 

 broken off, which is a common accident,, 

 for here the unnatural flatness of the hip, 

 showing itself without any great difficulty 

 of moving the hind leg of that side r 

 plainly marks that there is no dislocation, 

 and that the case can only be one of frac- 

 ture. It is always the result of a blow, 

 either when the horse is cast in a stall or 

 in passing through a narrow door-way. or 

 from a similar cause; and there will there- 

 fore be some swelling of the soft parts 

 which will interfere with the examination 

 at the time, but as nothing can be done 

 to restore the broken portion to its place, 

 and as there is no doubt about the diag- 

 nosis from dislocation, this is of little con- 

 sequence. Fractures of the ribs cannot 

 be readily detected; but as they almost 

 always follow a kick on the part, and as- 



