THE FETLOCK JOINT loi 



after a while, and unless surgically opened it bursts, when the abscess 

 cavity is best dealt with as an ordinary granulating wound. In surgically 

 opening an abscess care must be taken to avoid the internal metacarpal 

 vein and the small metacarpal artery. 



The ordinary treatment for teno-bursitis is adopted when the sheath 

 of the extensor metacarpi obliquus is inflamed {see Chapter VI.). 



Preventive treatment embraces the feeding up and development of 

 the animal, and careful shoeing of the opposite foot. The shoe which 

 is most frequently adopted for this purpose is one the outer edge of the 

 inner branch of which is feathered. The branch should not project, and 

 the " clinches" should not be too prominent. Knocked-up shoes, wedge 

 heels, rubber pads projecting between the shoe and hoof, speedy cutting 

 boots, &c., are also utilised. 



THE FETLOCK JOINT 



The large metacarpal bone, the os sufFraginis, and the two sesamoid 

 hones enter into the formation of this joint, which is one of the most 

 troublesome with which surgeons have to deal, and in consequence the 

 attention ot the student is the more earnestly directed to it. 



In building up the joint it will be remembered that the two sesamoid 

 bones are united to each other by a strong interosseous ligament con- 

 sisting of fibres which run transversely between the anterior third of the 

 inner aspect of the two bones. The bones so united are then attached to 

 the first phalanx by the lateral sesamoidean and the middle and deep 

 divisions of the inferior sesamoidean ligaments. The remaining two- 

 thirds of the inner or posterior surface of the sesamoid bones are covered 

 by smooth fibro-cartilage, to facilitate the play over them of the tendon 

 of the flexor perforans. 



The united sesamoids and sufFraginis present an articular surface which 

 is a continuous curve with the concavity directed upwards, for articula- 



