318 DISLOCATIONS^. 



treated, the animal ought, in the majority of cases, to make a 

 good recovery, and be fit for any ordinary work in a month or 

 two. After this accident a mule returned to work after having 

 been on the sick-list only twenty-five days. The chances of a 

 recovery without lameness after dislocation with fracture (unless 

 there was no displacement) would be remote. 



TREATMENT. — The horse should be thrown on his sound side, 

 every precaution being taken that he does not get hurt. With 

 this object, we may adopt the method described on p. 652, taking 

 care to pull the head round to the injured side. The " falling " 

 should be made as soft as possible. It is almost essential to 

 employ an anaesthetic, such as chloroform or ether; for without 

 it, if the horse be strong, the operator will have but little chance 

 ■of overcoming the resistance of the muscles of the part. Here, 

 'Complete muscular relaxation, and not merely insensibility, should 

 ,be the object in view. The mule referred to above was a miser- 

 able, weak animal, and was operated on without chloroform. A 

 irope should be attached to the pastern of the injured limb, which 

 ishould be pulled backward so as to straighten it ; or this might 

 Ibe done by means of a long piece of soft cloth attached to the fore- 

 arm by a clove hitch (Fig. 127). One man in front of the chest 

 ishould press with his hands the head of the humerus backwards 

 (if the dislocation be of the usual kind) ; while another kneeling 

 behind the withers, places the palm of his hand at the back of 

 the shoulder blade, as near the shoulder joint as possible. 

 Similar arrangements may be made to suit the kind of dislocation, 

 if it be of a. different nature. The reduction of the dislocation 

 will be accompanied by a dull click. If this be not heard, the 

 filtered and natural appearance of the limb will be a sufficient 

 guide to show that the operation has been successful. After the 

 animal has got up, he should be put into slings, and a blister 

 rubbed over the seat of injury. Of course, the slings should be 

 fixed no higher than just enough to allow the patient to rest 

 on them if he likes. The animal should be kept on laxative 

 food. When he is seen to bear his weight on the leg, he may be 

 very gradually brought on to exercise it. In this, and in deter- 

 mining the period during which the patient is to be kept in slings, 

 the person in charge will have to exercise his own judgment. In 

 favourable cases, the horse will be able to walk in about a week 

 or ten days. 



I have been told that swimming the horse, immediately after 

 the accident, is a common method of treatment for dislocation of 

 the shoulder and other injuries in Australia and New Zealand. 



