216 DISEASES OF THE HORSE'S FOOT 



more so than when the plantar aponeurosis alone is in- 

 jured. 



Should the original wound be insufficiently enlarged, or 

 should its opening become occluded by the solid matters of 

 the discharge, then this condition, like the last, ends in the 

 formation of fistulous openings in the heel. These make 

 tneir appearance as hot, painful, and fluctuating swellings 

 in that position. Later they break, discharge their con- 

 tents, and leave a fistulous track behind. 



(e) Fracture of the Navicular Bone. — Penetration of the 

 substance of the navicular bone, without its fracture, adds 

 nothing to the symptoms we have described under puncture 

 of the bursa. That the bone has been reached by the 

 penetrating object may be detected by probing. This, how- 

 ever, must be performed with care, especially if a flow 

 of synovia is absent. Otherwise, the wound, as yet, per- 

 haps, superficial enough to avoid penetrating even the bursa, 

 is made a penetrating one by the probe itself. 



Fracture of the navicular bone is fortunately rare. 



(/) Penetration of the Pedal Articulation and Arthritis. 

 — This we shall consider in greater detail in Chapter XII. 

 Ic is sufficient here to state that the condition may be sus- 

 pected when a hot and painful swelling of the whole coronet 

 makes its appearance. There is at the same time a diffused 

 cedema of the fetlock and the region of the cannon, some- 

 times extending upwards to the whole of the limb. 



Of all the complications to be met with in punctured foot 

 this is the one most to be dreaded. The intense pain and 

 the high fever render the animal weak and thin in the ex- 

 treme. The appetite becomes impaired, sometimes alto- 

 gether lost, and the patient in many cases appears to die 

 from sheer exhaustion. Added to this is always the ex- 

 treme probability of the wound becoming purulent, and later 

 the dread of general septic infection of the blood-stream 

 ensuing, and death resulting from that. Even with the 

 happier ending of resolution, anchylosis of the joint 

 and incurable lameness is more often than not left behind. 

 (See Suppurative or Purulent Arthritis, Chapter XII.) 



