274 DISEASES OF BONE. 



be applied to increasing the usefulness of a limb. Not unfre- 

 quently the inflammation of the fetlock joint has been caused, or 

 complicated, by fracture of one or both of the sesamoid bones, 

 which are at the back of tJie fetlock, in which case there will be 

 no hope of restoring to the joint its former healthy action. 



TREATMENT. — In hopeful cases, namely those in which the 

 articular cartilages are healthy, and no deposit of bone interferes 

 with movement, the problem is the same as that which the human 

 surgeon has in restoring normal mobility to an elbow which, on 

 recovering from a dislocation, has remained at rest in a bent 

 position for too long a time, but without suffering from diseased 

 changes beyond the formation of adhesions. In this case, the 

 doctor may proceed to forcibly extend the joint, so as to break 

 down the adhesions then and there, or may get his patient, by 

 working dumb bells or Indian clubs or by other exercises, to 

 gradually straighten out the fibrous bands that form the adhesions, 

 and to lengthen the contracted ligaments. In slight cases, and 

 especially with foals, I would folloAV Holler's advice to obtain the 

 necessary obliquity of pastern by lowering the heels, and if that did 

 not do, by using a long-toed shoe (Fig. 104), which would naturally 

 increase the leverage. In bad cases, calkins of the form shown in 

 Fig. 4, should be used with the long-toed shoe, and lowered from 

 time to time in accordance with the descent of the fetlock. The 

 effect of lowering the heels would be increased by using tips, or 

 by employing shoes which are thick at the toes and thin at the 

 heels. Moller, in his work on veterinary surgery, describes the 

 treatment of foals which knuckle over, as entirely successful by 

 forcible extension, after the animal has been cast, and then keeping 

 the pastern in proper position by carefully padded splints, or by 

 a special apparatus, such as that of Friebel or Brunet, either of 

 which could be obtained from a veterinary instrument maker. 

 Major Blenkinsopp and Colonel Nunn, A.V.D., have performed many 

 experiments in restoring mobility to stiff fetlock joints by forcible 

 extension while the patient has been under the influence of chloro- 

 form, the employment of which, or of ether, is a necessity for 

 overcoming the natural resistance of a grown-up horse. For this 

 object, the action of the drug should be pushed so as to obtain 

 complete muscular relaxation. The after-treatment consists of 

 bandaging Avith cotton wadding (p. 45) and in massage (p. 664). 

 For further information on this subject see " The Veterinary 

 Record," 21st Decembei-, 1896, Eccles's "The Practice of Mas- 

 sage," and Holler's work. Stiffness of the knee may be similarly 

 combated. 



