LAMENESS IN THE REGION OF THE METATARSUS. 119 



4.— Lameness Resulting from Interfering and Its 

 Complications , 



Inspection. — It is more frequently met with in the hind 

 legs ; usually the inner face of the fetlock or coronet are 

 struck ; but in the fore-legs the inner region, just below the 

 knee joint, the metacarpus and fetlock are most liable to 

 injury. Lameness is either severe or slight, and sometimes 

 only momentary. In simple abrasions of the skin, little, if 

 any, swelling or lameness follows the injury ; but infection 

 of the subcutis, characterized by diffuse swelling and later 

 abscess-formation, produces considerable lameness, often 

 so severe that no weight is borne by the diseased leg. When 

 the sesamoidal tendon sheath is involved, the leg is held in 

 a diagnostic position. (See page 118.) 



Palpation. — The swelling is hot, painful, of doughy or 

 firm consistency ; when the sesamoidal sheath is infected, 

 passive dorsal flexion produces intense pain. 



