FRACTURES. Ill 



he will stop all at once as if he were shot. Fracture of the 

 hip, I say hip — so that the unprofessional reader will better 

 understand — but it is the bone of the pelvis. The mere 

 name will not amount to much/ for the treatment is: let it 

 alone, and it will get well in three months of itself v/ithout 

 any interference from medicine or art. Turn the horse out 

 for a few months, either in pasture or in the barn-yard, 

 and give him plenty to eat. 



Fracture of the ribs will require rib treatment, except it 

 may be a few days' rest. Sometimes a swelling will be 

 seen on the side of a horse having a broken rib, in a few 

 days after the accident. It may form an abscess; if so, 

 have it opened to let out the matter; and if it should not 

 become soft and hold matter, let it alone, as it will do little 

 harm ; or, make the application for a few times, say once a 

 week for three weeks, of the ointment of iodine. (See 

 Prescriptions and Medicines.) 



Fractures of the simple kind take place in various 

 parts of the body, and when such is the case, and they do 

 not interfere with any action or function of the body, they 

 can be assisted only in so far as bandage and splint are 

 concerned, so as to secure the ends in proper position. 

 This will require some ingenuity, and cannot be described, 

 as a bone is not always broken at one place, nor is it 

 always of one set kind of break. The means will on these 

 occasions have to meet the ends required of them in the 

 best way possible. Sometimes pieces of broken bone Avill 

 have to be taken out, where the bone has become detached. 

 If this occur in the bones of the leg, of course the horse 

 had better be shot. Where small pieces of bone become 

 loose, it is usually in some of the flat ^ bones, as the 

 shoulder blade and the lower jaw bone, from kicks from 

 other horses. 



