LAMENESS: ITS CAUSES AND TREATMENT, ~ 877 
with the disposition of the patient; the natural opposition of the 
animal, sometimes ill- tempered and fractious at best, under the 
necessary restraint causing at times much embarrassment to the 
practitioner in applying the necessary treatment. Without the nec- 
essary immobility there can be no close connection of the ends of 
the tendons. To fulfill this necessary condition the posterior part of 
the foot and the fetlock must be supported and the traction per- 
formed by them relieved, an object which can be obtained by the use 
of the high-heeled and bar shoe, or possibly better accomplished with 
a shoe of the same kind extending about 2 or 24 inches back of the 
heels. The perfect immobility of the legs is obtained in the same 
way as in the treatment of fracture, with splints, bandages, iron 
apparatus, plaster of adhesive mixtures, and similar means. So 
long as the dressings remain in place undisturbed and no chafing 
or other evidence of pain is present, the dressings may be continued 
without changing, the patient being kept in the slings for a period 
sufficient to insure the perfect union of the tendons. For a com- 
pound lesion when there is laceration of the skin some special care 
is necessary. The wound must be carefully watched and the dress- 
ings removed at intervals of a few days or as often as may be. 
needful, all of which additional manipulation and extra nursing, 
however indispensable, still adds to the gravity of the case and 
renders the prognosis more and more serious. When the tendons 
have sloughed in threads of various dimensions, or if in the absence 
of this process of mortification healthy granulations should form 
and fill up the wound, still very careful attention will be required, 
the granulating ends of the tendons having a tendency to bulge 
between the edges of the skin and to assume large dimensions, 
forming bulky excrescences or growths of a warty or cauliflower 
appearance, the removal of which becomes a troublesome matter. 
The union of the tendons will at times leave a thickening of vary- 
ing degree near the point of cicatrization, the absorption of which 
becomes an object of difficult and doubtful accomplishment, but 
which may be promoted by moderate blistering and the use of alter- 
ative and absorbent mixtures or perhaps the fire iron. A shoe with 
heels somewhat higher than usual will prove a comfort to the animal 
and aid in moderating and relieving the tension of the tendons. 
RUPTURE OF THE FLEXOR METATARSI. 
This is a muscle of the anterior part of the shank. It is situated 
in front of the tibia, and is of peculiar formation, being composed of 
a muscular portion with a very powerful tendon, which are at first 
distinct and separate, to be intimately united lower down, and termi- 
nating at the lower end by a division into four tendinous bands. It 
is a powerful muscle of the hinder shank bone, and also acts as a 
