TEACTUBES.] 



THE HORSE, AND 



[feactubes. 



CHAPTER XL 



FIIACTUEES. — THE head; PaBS ; LIMBS; BLADE-BONE; ABM; ELBOW; SHANK-BONE; THIGH-BONE; 

 PASTERNS ; COEFIN-BONE, AND NAVICULAR BONE. 



FRACTURES. 

 Pbactubes mean a division of a bone into two 

 or more parts, or fragments. A simple frac- 

 ture is vrhen the bone only is divided, and 

 not protruded through the skin. A com- 

 pound fracture is a division of tlie bone, witli 

 a laceration of the integuments, the bone 

 mostly protruding. A comminuted fracture is 

 where the bone is splintered in more than one 

 direction. A fracture is also termed trans- 

 terse, oblique, &c., according to its direction. 



The fractures that most generally occur are 

 in the head, occasioned by horses running 

 violently against a post or bar ; the ribs, hip- 

 bone, thigh-bone, and, indeed, all bones of the 

 leg, caused either by falls, or kicks from other 

 horses. "We will first consider 



FRACTURE OF THE HEAD. 



Although this is not a very common case, 

 still, it is likely to occur. A case illustrative 

 of the manner in which it sometimes happens^ 

 took place in India. At the usual watering- 

 time of the horses in the afternoon — about 

 five o'clock — one of them broke loose from the 

 hands of the man who attended him. This 

 occasioned a tremendous outcry among tlie 

 soldiers, many of whom ran after him, and so 

 frightened the animal, that he fled with all the 

 reckless speed he could command. In this 

 state he made a desperate rush into his stand- 

 ing in the stable, and fractured hie skull 

 against its top bar with such violence, that he 

 was knocked down by the effects of the blow. 

 He received a wound on the head about au 

 inch wide. Fearing that concussion of the 

 brain had taken place, the veterinary surgeon 

 had the horse bled to the amount of six 

 quarts, the head frequently fomented with 

 warm water, and no food given to the animal 

 that night. In the morning he appeared 

 better. The fomentations were kept up, •and 

 six drachma of aloes given him. This treat- 

 180 



ment was continued for two days, when the 

 process of healing the skin was commenced, 

 and accomplished in about a week. 



At the end of the third day, when about to 

 discharge the horse as cured, it was found 

 that he was attacked with Jock-jaw. This cir- 

 cumstance suggested that the bone must have 

 been fractured, and that pressure on the brain 

 was the consequence. The horse was imme- 

 diately cast, and two sections in the skin, 

 forming two sides of a triangle, made with the 

 scalpal. On examining the parietal bone, it 

 was found that the skull had a perpendicular 

 fracture of about an inch and a quarter in 

 length, and that a piece of bone had been 

 splintered ofi^, about three-quarters of an inch 

 long. The splintered bone was now extracted 

 with a pair of sharp-pointed forceps, the skin 

 drawn down, and half-a-dozen sutures attached. 

 The fracture was then treated as a common 

 wound, and dressed with digestives until 

 granulations began to form. Under this 

 treatment, it was completely healed in about 

 three weeks. The lock-jaw yielded, by de- 

 grees, to copious bleedings and solution of 

 aloes, day by day, until purgation was pro- 

 duced. This interesting case is represented 

 in the accompanying Plate of the horse's 

 head. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE.—" FRACTURES." 



A shows the situation of the parietal suture, 

 running perpendicularly up the front of the 

 head. 



B, the fractured part, just on the suture. 



C, the skin dissected and laid back, the 

 upper part being held in its situation by an 

 assistant. 



FRACTURES OF THE RIBS. 

 Fractures of the ribs frequently occur, and 

 are very often produced by kicks from other 

 horses, more especially when at grass than at 



