TENOTOMY. 369 



The Treatment after the Operation will consist more in 

 watching the progress of healing than in any thing that can be done 

 to promote it any great deal. The external wound not being di- 

 rectly opposite to the internal one, will require nothing, save it be 

 a suture or two at the time to prevent its gaping ; and these will 

 have to be withdrawn so soon as suppuration shall appear. A wet 

 linen well-applied bandage will be requisite to give support to the 

 leg. But the grand aim of the practitioner must be, to maintain, to 

 the extent of his power, by such means as appear best calculated 

 for the purpose, the proper position of the limb. It will not do 

 to endeavour to effect this suddenly. To parts which for a length 

 of time have become settled to, and seemingly have enjoyed, a 

 false position, it will take time, and considerable time too, to restore 

 a proper one. No force or violence must be employed to bring 

 about this : it must be accomplished by degrees, and by humour- 

 ing — if I may use such a word here — rather than by any sud- 

 den or harsh usage. In some cases the heel of the " cut" limb 

 may for a short time at first require being kept raised, or it may 

 not. On the other hand, after a time, the long-toed shoe may be 

 called for, to force the animal to place his heel upon the ground, 

 lest, after the healing takes place, the tendons become as contracted 

 again as before the operation. During the healing season, inflam- 

 mation of the limb will be kept within due bounds by the usual 

 remedies. 



The Success or Non -success of Tenotomy will depend on 

 a variety of circumstances, most of which will, on due reflec- 

 tion, prove to be within the control of the veterinary surgeon. 

 Of course, the first, and indeed chief, consideration with him will 

 be the fitness or non-fitness of the subject for such an operation. . 

 If he be called on to operate on a horse at every risk, in that case 

 no responsibility can rest with him. On the other hand, when 

 called on for an opinion, he will have to use both great judgment 

 and great caution in giving one. Cases in which mal-position is 

 clearly owing to anchylosis, though it be but partial, of the fetlock 

 or pastern or coffin-joint, are irremediable in this way. Neither 

 can cases of contracted limbs of many years' standing, in aged 

 horses, be undertaken with any great hopes of affording relief. 



VOL. IV. 3 B 



