FRACTURE OF THE PHALANGES OF HORSES 497 



dent, the claudication entirely disappeared after twenty-four 

 hours. In ten days he was entered in a-matinee race, appar- 

 ently entirely recovered. He trotted the first half mile in 

 one minute and six seconds, and then fell suddenly so lame 

 as to be unable to proceed further. After limping to the sta- 

 ble with great difficulty he was conveyed home some ten 

 miles in a horse ambulance, where an examination by a com- 

 petent veterinarian still failed to disclose the serious nature 

 of the trouble. On the morning of the twenty-third day the 

 bones parted, and an examination post mortem revealed an 

 oblique fracture extending from the seat of injury at the 

 lower third of the radius to the superior part of the upper 

 third. Analogous cases occur with great regularity. 



The displacement of the segments in subperiosteal frac- 

 ture is not always due to accident ; it is sometimes the inev- 

 itable termination of a serious injury. The periosteum holds 

 the bone intact until it has undergone inflammatory 

 changes ; then the segments collapse from, non-support. A 

 slip, a sudden transfer of the weight upon the affected leg in 

 rising, etc., may precipitate a dissolution prematurely, but in 

 many cases separation cannot be avoided. 



TREATMENT.— At the onset subperiosteal fracture 

 can not be diagnosed; the pathognomonic symptoms of frac- 

 ture are wanting. Its existence should, however, always be 

 suspected when dealing with injuries at one of the three 

 points of predilection above enumerated. The wise practi- 

 tioner never fails to announce, and even emphasize the pos- 

 sible seriousness of contusions, or even apparently trivial 

 abrasions, located on the internal surface of the tibia, the an- 

 terior surface of the radius and the external border of the 

 radius. 



When displacement has occurred the patient is shot as 

 incurable. Before this event has occurred the patient is 

 placed in slings and the wound submitted to a good antisep- 

 tic treatment for at least twenty days, after which time a 

 moderate exercise may be allowed. 



When located upon the radius and there is ample reason 

 to suspect unmistakable fracture the leg brace (Fig. 258.) 

 should be applied. 



Fracture of the Phalanges of Horses. 



Fracture of the os suffraginus or os corona is usually 

 caused by various forms of violence, notably slipping upon a 

 smooth street, traction upon a foot caught in a street crevice, 

 fence or defective stall, violence sustained in runaways, etc. 



