344 DISEASES OF THE HORSE, 
The minimum period allowable for solid union in a fractured hip 
is, in our judgment, two months, and we have known cases in which 
that was too short a time. 
As we have said before, there may be cases in which the treatment 
for fracture at the floor of the pelvis has been followed by symptoms 
of partial paralysis, the animal, when lying down, being unable to 
regain his feet, but moving freely when placed in an upright position. 
This condition is owing to the interference of the callus with the func- 
tions of the obturator nerve, which it presses upon or surrounds. By 
my experience in similar cases I feel warranted in cautioning owners 
of horses in this condition to exercise due patience, and to avoid a 
premature sentence of condemnation against their invalid servants; 
they are not all irrecoverably paralytic. With alternations of mod- 
erate exercise, rest in the slings, and the effect of time while the 
natural process of absorption is taking effect upon the callus, with 
other elements of change that may be so operating, the horse in due 
time may become able once more to earn his subsistence and serve 
his master. 
FRACTURE OF THE SCAPULA. 
This bone is seldom fractured, its comparative exemption being due 
to its free mobility and the protection it receives from the superim- 
posed soft tissues. Only direct and powerful causes are sufficient to 
effect the injury, and when it occurs the large rather than the smaller 
animals are the subjects. 
Cause.—The causes are heavy blows or kicks and violent collisions 
with unyielding objects. Those which are occasioned by falls are 
generally at the neck of the bone, and of the transverse and commi- 
nuted_ varieties. 
Symptoms.—The diagnosis is not always easy. The symptoms are 
inability to rest the leg on the ground and to carry weights, and they 
are present in various degrees from slight to severe. The leg rests 
upon the toe, seems shortened, and locomotion is performed by 
jumps. Moving the leg while examining it and raising the foot for 
inspection seem to produce much pain and cause the animal to rear. 
Crepitation is readily felt with the hand upon the shoulder when the 
leg is moved. If the fracture occurs in the upper part of the bone, 
overlapping of the fragments and displacement will be considerable. 
The fracture of this bone is usually classed among the more serious 
accidents, though cases may occur which are followed by recovery 
without very serious ultimate results, especially when the seat of the 
injury is at some of the upper angles of the bone or about the acro- 
mion crest. But if the neck and the joint are the parts involved, 
complications which are likely to disable the animal for life are 
liable to be present. 
