DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 403 



animal to hobble on three legs. AVhile at rest the leg is flexed at the 

 joint affected, and the toe rests on the ground. 



Treatment. — If the injury is slight, cold-water bandages and a few 

 days' rest are sufficient to effect recovery. When there is an intense 

 lameness, swelling, etc., the leg should be placed under a constant 

 stream of cold water, as described in the treatment for quittor. 

 When the inflammation has subsided, a blister to the joint should be 

 applied. 



In some cases, especially in old horses long acc^stomed to fast 

 work, the ligaments of the joints are ruptured, in whole or in part, 

 and the lameness may last a long time. In these cases the joint should 

 be kept completely at rest; this condition is best obtained by the 

 application of plaster of Paris bandages, as in cases of fracture. 

 As a rule, patients take kindly to this bandage, and, while wearing it, 

 may be given the freedom of a roomy box or yard. If they are dis- 

 posed to tear it off, or if sufficient rest can not otherwise be obtained, 

 the patient must be kept in slings. 



In the majority of instances the plaster bandage should remain on 

 from two to four weeks. If the lameness returns when the bandage 

 is removed, a new one should be put on. The swelling, which always 

 remains after the other evidences of the disease have disappeared, 

 may be largely dissipated and the joint strengthened by the use of the 

 firing iron and blisters. 



A joint once injured by a severe sprain never entirely regains its 

 original strength, and is ever after particularly liable to a repetition 

 of the injviry. 



RUPTURE OF THE SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT. 



Sprain with or without rupture of the suspensory ligament may 

 happen in either the fore or hind legs, and is occasionally seen in 

 horses of all classes and at all ages. Old animals, however, and espe- 

 cially hunters, runners, and trotters, are the most subject to this 

 injury, and with them the seat of the tr-ouble is nearly always in one 

 or both the fore legs. Horses used for heavy draft are more liable to 

 have the ligament of the hind legs affected. 



When the strain upon the suspensory ligament becomes too great, 

 one or both of the branches may be torn from the sesamoid bones, one 

 or both of the branches may be torn completely across, or the liga- 

 ment may rupture above the point of division. 



Syrwptoms. — ^The most common injury to the suspensory ligament 

 is sprain of the internal branch in one of the fore legs. The trouble 

 is indicated by lameness, heat, swelling, and tenderness of the affected 

 branch, beginning just above the sesamoid bone and extending 

 obli(}uely downward and forward to the front of the ankle. If the 

 whole ligament is involved, the swelling comes on gradually, and is 



