LAMENESS, FROM VARIOUS CAUSES. 377 



Jar or concussion thus received often occasions fracture. J kuo\i 

 that this is the case ; for, on making examination of some of these 

 fractures, I found the skin over the region of the point of the hip 

 bruised and abraded. Then, again, horses frequently get cast at 

 nigl t, and are tlie subjects of colic, or other aches or pains. They 

 struggle violently, get imprisoned, as it were, in their narrow 

 aj>artments, and, when released by assistance, fracture of the pel via 

 is often discovered. 



This is not all. Sometimes sufficient bedding is not furnished 

 to protect the animal from the effects of hurriedly reclining, or 

 slipping down, on a hard plank floor, and the result is often the 

 same as that just alluded to. Then, in view of prevention, these 

 facts suggest the propriety of having wider stalls, and a liberal 

 supply af shavings or sawdust for bedding ; that is, when straw 

 can not be obtained ; yet I think that when sawdust can be ob- 

 tained, it is the most wholesome and economical bedding for 

 horses. Taking a pathological view of the matter, I have to in- 

 form the reader that a great proportion of these fractures occur 

 among horses well advanced in years ; and it may be that theil 

 bones, in some cases, are brittle and very easily fractured, as ia 

 the case with some aged members of the human family, whose 

 thigh bones have been easily fractured by a slight fall, or jumping 

 out of bed in a hurry, many such cases being on record. 



The horst! is occasionally subject to a disease of the bones known 

 as fatty degeneration, which is said to be partly occasioned by an 

 exclusive Indian corn diet. In such cases the vacuities in some 

 of the bones are filled with oily matter, are light, and easily frac- 

 tured. He is also subject to a disease known as rickets, which 

 may depend either on hereditary predisposition or imperfect nu- 

 trition. The bones are defective in early constituents, and, con- 

 sequently, give way under the weight which they ought otherwise 

 to sustain. The remedy is, a nutritive diet, partly composed of 

 oats, and occasional doses of phosphate ol" lime. 



Horses very frequently fracture the pelvis by falling in hamesa, 

 out fur this I know of no remedy except careful driving; yet 

 sometimes, in sjjite of due care, they must fall when traveling on 

 slippery pavements, and when improperly shod. 



Treatment. — As regards the treatment of fracture of the pelvis 

 I have but little to offer. It is all contained in the words -esi 

 and counter-irritation {^oUm or blister), yet requires tim< -ni 



