404 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
found above the fetlock and in front of the flexor tendons. The 
patient stands or walks upon the toe as much as possible, keeping the 
fetlock joint flexed so as to relieve the ligament of tension. 
When both branches are torn from their attachments to the sesa- 
moids, or both are torn across, the lameness comes on suddenly and 
is most intense; the fetlock descends, the toe turns up, and, as the 
animal attempts to walk, the leg has the appearance of being broken 
off at the fetlock. These symptoms, followed by heat, pain, and 
swelling of the parts at the point of injury, will enable anyone to 
make a diagnosis. 
Treatment.—Sprain of the suspensory ligament, no matter how 
mild it may be, should always be treated by enforced rest of at least a 
month, and the application of cold douches and cold-water bandages, 
firmly applied until the fever has subsided, when a cantharides blister 
should be put on and repeated in two or three weeks if necessary. 
When rupture has taken place the patient should be put into slings 
and a constant stream of cold water allowed to trickle over the seat 
of injury until the fever is reduced. In the course of a week or ten 
days a plaster of Paris splint, such as is used in fractures, is to be 
applied and left on for a month or six weeks. When this is taken off, 
blisters may be used to remove the remaining soreness; but it is use- 
less to expect a removal of all the thickening, for, in the process of 
repair, new tissue has been formed which will always remain. 
In old cases of sprain the firing iron may often be used with good 
results. As a rule, severe injuries to the suspensory ligament inca- 
pacitate the subject for anything but slow, light work. 
OVERREACH. 
When the shoe of the hind foot strikes and injures the heel or quar- 
ter of the forefoot the horse is said to overreach. It rarely happens 
except when the animal is going fast; hence is most common in trot- 
ting and running horses. In trotters the accident generally happens 
when the animal breaks from a trot to arun. The outside heels and 
quarters are most liable to the injury. 
Symptoms.—tThe coronet at the heel or quarter is bruised or cut, 
the injury in some instances involving the horn as well. When the 
hind foot strikes well back on the heel of the fore foot—an accident 
known among horsemen as “ grabbing ”—the shoe may be torn from 
the forefoot or the animal may fall to its knees. Horses accustomed 
to overreaching are often “bad breakers,” for the reason that the pain 
of the injury so excites them that they can not readily be brought back 
to the trotting gait. 
Treatment.—If the injury is but a slight bruise, cold-water band- 
ages applied for a few days will remove all the soreness. If the parts 
are deeply cut, more or less suppuration will follow, and, as a rule, it 
