FRACTURES 521 



disadvantage, his patient will not lie in bed restrained by the fear of being 

 a cripple for life, but as a rule uses his best endeavours to undo every kind 

 of appliance that ingenuity can invent. Neither is it enough to have saved 

 his life and turned him out of hospital on crutches ; he must be absolutely 

 sound again or he will never repay the owner for maintenance — not to 

 mention his doctor's bill. It is for this reason that horses with broken 

 bones are usually slaughtered, and not as many people suppose because 

 nature will not repair fractures in this animal. Broken bones are, however, 

 often successfully treated by country practitioners in colts and young horses 

 on grass or farm keep, where as a matter of mere business calculation it 

 would not pay to attempt it in the town-kept and adult horse, unless for 

 some exceptional reason, as in a mare sufficiently valuable to be retained for 

 breeding. 



The symptoms of simple fracture are a greater or less degree of 

 deformity of the limb, swelling, pain on motion, and a peculiar grating or 

 jarring which is felt rather than heard, and which has received the name 

 of " crepitus." The last symptom 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 of pressure upon the brain and spinal cord will 

 be often the sole means of coming to a correct diagnosis. Fractures of the 

 pelvis are very difficult to make out, unless the ala of the ilium is broken 

 oflP, 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, plainly marks that there is no dislocation, and that the case can only 

 be one of fracture. It is always the result of a blow, either when the horse 

 is cast in a stall or in passing through a narrow doorway, or from a similar 

 cause ; and there will therefore 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 diagnosis from dislocation, this is of little consequence. Fractures of 

 the ribs cannot be readily detected ; but as they almost always follow a 

 kick on the part, and as they do not require any treatment unless their 

 broken ends press upon the important viscera of the thorax or abdomen, it 

 will be well to wait for the symptoms which are caused by this mechanical 

 irritation before resorting to bandages, etc. When a fracture occurs in any 

 of the bones of the limbs which are concealed by a large mass of muscle, 

 the total inability to use the member, and the loose way in which it is 

 connected to the body, so as to allow it to be moved in any direction, 

 indicate the general nature of the case without difficulty, though a careful 

 examination must be made by a skilful surgeon before the exact particulars 

 relating to it can be ascertained. 



The Treatment will depend upon the bone which is broken, and whether 

 the fracture is simple or compound. In most cases of the latter description 

 none will avail, and the horse had better be destroyed. 



If the bones of the skull are fractured, unless there are symptoms of 

 pressure on the brain, it is advisable to leave all to nature, simply keeping 

 the patient quiet and low, and, if in a high state of plethora, bleeding and 

 physicking. 



