PRACTUBES.] 



3[0DEKN VETEUlNAlii' PRACTICE. 



[yUACTUUES. 



any otlier time. Tlicy are, also, freqiuMitly the 

 itli't't of blows dealt to such aiiiinala ad are 

 iisi'd in larj^e towns by costerinongers and 

 dustmon, who, if a horse cannot travel at the 

 rate they rciinire, a lar-^e stick is made to re- 

 sound on his sides with an inhunciiiily only 

 equalled by the ignorance of the brute who is 

 entrusted with the use of such a weapon. 

 These fractures generally unite of themselves ; 

 Nature setting up the healing process herself, 

 and the accident seldom or ever coming to 

 light until the beast finds its way to the yard 

 of the knacker, " The two ribs behind the 

 elbow," says Hurtrel d'Arboval, "are the 

 most subject to fracture ; and the false ribs, 

 from the yielding motion which they possess, 

 ere least liable." 



FRACTURE OF THE SPINE. 



Fracture of the spine may arise from lying 

 down in a narrow stall, in which there is diffi- 

 culty in rising again ; or sometimes from the 

 horse turning over in the standing, whilst 

 lying down, so that there is not room for him 

 to get his hind legs clear of the stall-post. 

 "Where this is the case, he struggles to regain 

 his feet, and the ligament of his back becomes 

 so much strained, that inllammation com- 

 mences, and in all probability terminates in 

 anchylosis. It sometimes occurs in casting a 

 horse to perform an operation, notwithstanding 

 every possible care may have been taken to 

 prevent it. 



For this fracture there is no remedy. In 

 the eleventh volume of the Veterinarian, Mr. 

 AV. C. Spooner relates a case of spine-fracture 

 of considerable interest. A horse had been 

 clipped about three weeks, and was subse- 

 quently sharply galloped upon rough ground, 

 and pulled up suddenly and repeatedly, with 

 the object of sweating him- - After this, he did 

 not go so well as he had done previously, nor 

 would he canter readily, although he had been 

 much used to that pace. Two days before he 

 was destroyed, the groom was riding him at a 

 slow pace, when he suddenly gave way behind, 

 had to be carried home, and he could not 

 afterwards stand. He had, it is supposed, 

 slightly fractured the spine when being sud- 

 denly pulled up, but without displacing the 

 bones. There are, doubtless, many similar 

 cases to this. 



Attempts have been made to euro this frac- 

 ture by blisters and charges, but uuvcr with 

 any good ellect. 



FRACTURE OF THE LIMBS. 

 As in all other cases of fracture to which 

 the horse is liable, those of the limbs are as 

 difficult to euro as any. Consequently, in 

 many instances, the animal has to bo de- 

 stroyed ; but many fractures of the limbs may 

 be restored so far as still to make the horse of 

 considerable value. This will especially bo 

 the case if ho is a well-formed stallion, or if 

 she is a good mare. The breed of either may 

 not only be kept up, but may be useful fur 

 many purposes. Of a case of fracture of the tibia, 

 Mr. J. S, Mayer gives an interesting account. 

 A horse had received a blow on this part of the 

 leg, but for two or three days little notice was 

 taken of it. "When he, however, was called in to 

 examine him, he found the tibia to bo obliquely 

 fractured, about midway between the hock 

 and the stifle, and a small wound existing on 

 the inside of the leg. The process of setting it 

 was as follows : — The leg, from the stifle down 

 to the hock, was well covered with an adhesive 

 compound, then wrapped round with fine tow, 

 upon which another layer of the same adhesive 

 mixture was laid, the whole being well splinted 

 and bandaged up, so as to render what was 

 a slightly compound fracture a simple one. 

 The local inflammation and sympathetic fever 

 that supervened were kept down by anti- 

 phlogistic measures. At the end of six weeks 

 the bandages and splints were removed, and 

 readjusted in a similar way as before ; and, at 

 the termination of three months from the 

 time of the accident, he was discharged cured : 

 the splints being wholly taken off, and merely 

 an adhesive stay kept on the leg. The horse 

 is now at work, and quite sound, there being 

 merely a little thickening where the callus is 

 formed. 



FRACTURE OF THE BLADE-BoNE. 

 Fracture of the blade-bone is not at all un- 

 frequent, and particularly the neck of tlio 

 bone. This is caused either by kicks, or falls 

 when going at a fast trot ; so that when tlie 

 horse comes to tlie ground, one leg is ex- 

 tended before him, and the other under his 

 bodv. With coach-horses, it most frequently 



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