304 FRACTUEES. 



VARIETIES AND GRAVITY.— Regarding the pelvis as a nearly 

 complete though extremely irregular hoop of bone (Fig. 119), we 

 may divide its fractures into (1) those through the body or hoop, 

 and (2) those not extending through the body or hoop. No. (I), 

 with the exception, in some cases, of fracture of the posterior iliac 

 spine, are very serious, especially if the division of bone extends 

 into the hip joint. No. (2) are much less grave ; for apart from 

 the extremely serious complication of injury to the hip joint, frac- 

 ture of the body or hoop is liable to be followed by an amount of 

 displacement that will permanently interfere with the movements 

 of the hind limb, and, in brood mares, with the safe delivery of the 

 foal. Here comes the question : in fracture of the pelvis, when is 

 it worth while to preserve the life of the patient? Setting aside 

 cases of stallions which are so valuable for breeding purposes that 

 an attempt at saving their lives should be made at all hazards, I 

 would answer this query by saying that the only hopeful cases are 

 tfiose of the point of the hip, the joint of the buttock, posterior 

 iliac spine, and those in which little or no displacement takes place, 

 except when the fracture extends into the hip joint. 



CAUSES. — The usual causes are falls and blows. Fracture into 

 the hip joint (fracture of the acetabulum) generally occurs from 

 the horse falling on top of his thigh bone (trochanter major, see 

 Figs. 116 and 116), as might happen by the animal "hitting" a 

 fence and " turning over." In such a case, the shock would be 

 transmitted by the head of the thigh bone to the cavity (the aceta- 

 bulum) in the pelvis, with the probable result of fracture in the 

 joint. 



EXAMINATION AND SYMPTOMS.— (1) Lameness: As muscles 

 which help to, draw back the leg are attached to the point of the 

 hip, posterior iliac spine, and point of the buttock, the animal, in 

 fracture of any of these points of bone, will have difficulty in ad- 

 vancing the leg of the afflicted side, although he may be able to 

 stand fairly well on it. When tlie hip joint is implicated, the 

 horse will evince disinclination to bear weight on the limb of the 

 sore side or to move it. In the large majority of cases of fracture 

 of the pelvis, lameness will be present. Although the lameness of 

 fracture of the pelvis haS' not any characteristic peculiarity, we may 

 often observe that the sufferer walks as if his back wa.s injured, and 

 oa,rries the hind leg of the suffering side stiffly to the front, while 

 bringing it outwards with a circular movement. (2) Deformity 

 and displacement. Figs. 120 and 121 show the respective de- 

 formities seen in fracture of the point of the hip and point of the 

 buttock. In fracture of the shaft of the ilium, the point of the hip 



