CHAPTER XYI. 



FRACTURES. 



AccroENTs of this description are not of unirequent occurrence, 

 but when they do happen it is not always that the mischief can 

 be repaired ; occasionally however, and much more frequently 

 than is generally imagined, the life of a valuable animal might 

 be saved if the owner, or the veterinary surgeon, would take a 

 little trouble, and the patient is fairly tractable, and that, in the 

 majority of cases, he will soon become, with kind treatment. 



With the exception of accidents that occur in casting the ani- 

 imal for certain operations, and his struggles during the opera- 

 tion, the causes of Fractuke are usually blows^ kicks, or falls, 

 and the lesion may be considered as simple, confined to one bone, 

 and not protruding through the skin— or compound, the bone or 

 bones protruding through the skin — or cmrvplicated, where the 

 bone is broken or splintered in more than one direction. The 

 duty of the veterinary surgeon resolves itself into the replacing 

 of the displaced bones in their natural position, the keeping of 

 them in that position, the healing of the integument, and the 

 taking of such measures as will prevent any untoward circum- 

 stances from afterwards occurring. 



In the greater number of cases of fracture, it will be necessary 

 to place the horse under considerable restraint, or even to sus- 

 pend or sling him. 



Fig. 49 contains a view of the suspensory apparatus used by 

 Mr. Percivall. A broad piece of sail-cloth, furnished with two 

 breechings, and two breast-girths, is placed under the animal's 

 belly, and, by means of ropes and pulleys attached to a cross 

 beam above, he is elevated or lowered as circumstances may 

 require. It will seldom be necessary to lift the patient quite off 

 the ground, and the horse will be quietest, and most at his ease, 

 when his feet are suffered just to touch it. The head is confined 

 by two collar ropes, and the head-stall well padded. Many 

 horses may plunge about and be difficult to manage at first, 

 but generally speaking, it is not long ere they become perfectly 

 passive. 



