CAPPED ELBOW IN THE HORSE. 



795 



symptom, and the swelling is then fluctuating, and on being opened 

 discharges blood-stained fluid. The bursa may become as large as 

 a man's fist and contain fibrinous clots. If not opened, its contents 

 may be partly reabsorbed, and whilst the parabursitis disappears, 

 the over-stretched skin forms a loose fold. Lameness is rare, and 

 the condition can only be mistaken for inflammatory changes in the 



Fig. 464.— Capped elbow. 



subcutis, which, however, are never so sharply defined as is the 

 inflamed bursa. 



Causes. Capped elbow is produced by bruising, often due to 

 lying on the heels of the shoe, though sometimes to contact with 

 the floor. Weakness, too short a halter rein, too small a box, and 

 in broken-winded horses, difficulty in breathing, may all cause the 

 animal to rest on the sternum, with the legs tucked under it ; in 

 animals with short fore-arms the posterior surface of the elbow then 

 comes just against the posterior part of the hoof, and is readily bruised 

 by the heels of the shoe. Capped elbow, however, is not infrequently 



