804 INJURIES TO THE KNEE IN THE HORSE. 



II.— INJURIES TO THE ANTERIOR SURFACE OF THE KNEE. 

 (1.) INJURIES TO THE KNEE IN THE HORSE. 

 In falling during movement, horses almost always strike the 

 knee, sometimes producing contusion, i.e., injury not involving a 

 .skin wound, but consisting in more or less damage to the vessels 

 and connective tissues between the skin and bones. Capped knee 

 may be contracted in the stable, the knee striking the manger, or 

 the knee may be bruised when the horse, rising like a cow, rests for 

 a minute with the knees on the ground. Lacerated wounds are more 

 common, and vary in gravity according to their extent. Defective 

 conformation, senile weakness of muscular tissue, &c, render animals 

 uncertain on their fore-limbs, and, therefore, inclined to fall ; in 

 such case both knees are often injured. The commonest injury is 

 abrasion of the skin. When animals are going fast and only fall 

 for a moment, excoriations and loss of hair may occur, but are of 

 little consequence unless the skin is perforated. Serious abrasions. 

 however, require rest and careful treatment, in spite of which 

 thickening and hairless spots often result. Repeated bruising often 

 produces hygroma of the knee, or " capped knee " (see Fig. 465), 

 an indolent, diffuse, uniformly fluctuating swelling, extending over 

 the whole anterior surface of the joint. In time the walls of the 

 swelling become tense and much thickened. The contained fluid 

 often shows fibrinous clots and occasionally rice-like bodies. Fre- 

 quently infection occurs and the contents become purulent. 



Chronic swelling of the tissues in front of the knee interferes 

 with movement. If the knee is bruised when forcibly flexed, as 

 for example by the animal falling, the cutis and subcutis, infiltrated 

 with inflammatory products, may easily be ruptured and a wound 

 produced, which heals slowly with permanent blemishing of the 

 surface. 



Injury or exposure of the fascia is also grave. The wound is 

 then much deeper, and contains shreds of the injured fascia. In 

 such cases healing is slow, though finally arrived at by proper 

 treatment. Provided the sheaths of the extensor tendons are 

 not laid open, and swelling and pain remain slight, recovery usually 

 occurs, but wounding or infection of the bursse constitutes a grave 

 complication. Swelling increases and extends both upwards and 

 downwards ; synovia discharges from the wound, the limb is very 

 painful when flexed though weight may be placed on it, and in 

 walking it may only be carried stiffly. 



Falls on sharp stones, or on rough, hard ground may injure the 



