BREAKING DOWN. 321 



BREAKING DOWN. 



GrREAT CONFUSION exists among trainers as to the exact nature 

 of this accident, which is considered by the veterinary surgeon to 

 consist in an actual rupture of the suspensory ligament either 

 above or below the sesamoid bones, which, in fact, merely separate 

 this apparatus of suspension into two portions, just as the patella 

 intervenes between the rectus femoris and the tibia. Whichever 

 part of the suspensory apparatus is gone (whether the superior or 

 inferior sesamoidal ligament is immaterial), the fetlock and pastern 

 joints lose their whole inelastic support ; and the flexor tendons, 

 together with their ligamentous fibres which they receive from the 

 carpus, giving way, as they must do, to allow of the accident 

 taking place, the toe is turned up, and the fetlock joint bears 

 upon the ground. This is a complete " break down ;" but there 

 are many cases in which the destruction of the ligamentous fibres 

 is not complete, and the joint, though much lowered, does not 

 actually touch the ground. These are still called breaks down, 

 and must be regarded as such, and as quite distinct from strains 

 of the flexor tendons. The accident generally occurs in a tired 

 horse, when the flexor muscles do not continue to support the liga- 

 ments, from which circumstance it so often happens in the last 

 few strides of a race. The si/mptoms are a partial or entire giving 

 way of the fetlock joint downwards, so that the back of it either 

 touches the ground, or nearly so, when the weight is thrown upon 

 it. Usually, however, after the horse is pulled up, he hops on 

 three legs, and refuses altogether to put that which is broken down 

 to the ground. In a very few minutes the leg " fills'' at the seat 

 of the accident, and becomes hot and very tender to the touch. 

 There can, therefore, be no doubt as to the nature of the mischief, 

 and the confusion to which allusion has been made is one of names 

 rather than of facts. Treatment can only be directed to a partial 

 recovery from this accident, for a horse broken down in the sense 

 in which the term is here used can only be used for stud purposes 

 or at slow farm work. A patten shoe should at once be put on 

 after bleeding at the toe to a copious extent, and then fomenta- 

 tions followed by cold lotions should be applied, as directed in the 

 last section. As there must necessarily be a deformity of the leg, 

 there can be no objection on that score to firing, and when the 

 severe inflammation following the accident has subsided this opera- 

 tion should be thoroughly performed, so as to afford relief not only 

 by the counter irritation which is set up, and which lasts only for 

 a time, but by the rigid and unyielding case which it leaves beljind 

 for a series of years. 



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