376 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 



one of wire. It may easily occur to a runaway horse when he is 

 " whipped " with fragments of harness or " flogged " by fragments 

 of splintered shafts " thrashing " his legs, or by the contact of his 

 legs with the wagon he has overturned and shattered with his heels 

 while disengaging himself from the wreck. 



Symptoms. — It is not always necessary that the skin be involved 

 in this form of injury. On the contrary, the tegument is fre- 

 quently left entirely intact, especially when the injury follows 

 infectious diseases or occurs during light exercise after long periods 

 of rest in the stable. Again, the skin may be cut through and the 

 tendons nearly severed. A point a little above the fetlock is usually 

 the seat of the injury. But irrespective of this, and whether the 

 skin is or is not implicated, the symptoms resemble very much those 

 of a fracture. There is excessive mobility, at least more than in 

 a normal state, with more or less inability to carry weight. There 

 may be swelling of the parts, and on passing the hands carefully 

 along the tendon to the point of division the stumps of the divided 

 structure will be felt more or less separated, perhaps wholly divided. 

 The position of the animal while at rest and standing is peculiar 

 and characteristic. While the heels are well placed on the ground, 

 the toe is correspondingly elevated, with a tendency to turn up — 

 a form of breaking down which was described when speaking of 

 the fracture of the sesamoids. Carrying weight is done only with 

 considerable difficulty, but with comparatively little pain, and the 

 animal will unconsciously continue to move the leg as if in great 

 suffering, notwithstanding the fact that his general condition may be 

 very good and his appetite unimpaired. 



The effect upon the general organism of compound lacerated 

 wounds of tendinous structures, or those which are associated with 

 injuries of the skin, are different. The wound becomes in a short 

 time the seat of a high degree of inflammation, with abundant 

 suppuration filling it from the bottom; the tendon, whether as the 

 result of the bruise or of the laceration, or of maceration in the 

 accumulated pus, undergoes a process of softening, and necrosis and 

 sloughing ensue. This complicates the case and probably some form 

 of tendinous synovitis follows, running into suppurative arthritis, 

 to end, if close to a joint, with a fatal result. 



Prognosis. — The. prognosis of lacerated tendons should be very 

 conservative. Under the most favorable circumstances a period of 

 from six weeks to two months will be necessary for the treatment, 

 before the formation of the cicatricial callus and the establishment 

 of a firm union between the tendinous stumps. 



Treatment. — As with fractures, and even in a greater degree, the 

 necessity is imperative, in the- treatment of lacerated tendons, to 

 obtain as perfect a state of immobility as can be obtained compatibly 



