CAPPED HOCK. 
747 
horse had risen, and a drainage-tube was inserted in the lower angle of 
the wound. A dressing was not applied. Healing occurred by primary 
intention. Opening of the bursa tendinea, however, is very dangerous, 
and in incising the bursa subcutanea care must be taken not to injure 
the extensor pedis perforatus. The doubtful success which has attended 
operation for capped hock is principally to be referred to the tendon 
sheath having been opened. It is better to confine treatment to external 
applications. 
Corps-Rossartz Hell ruptures hygromata on the point of the hock by 
violence. For this purpose a bandage is passed round the hock whilst 
the animal stands on the limb, the other hind foot being lifted up. If 
the foot be then released, the horse makes such violent attempts to flex 
the bandaged limb that the bursa may be ruptured and its contents 
discharged. The swelling does not return. One or two cases have been 
reported of this method being successfully employed. It appears by no 
means impracticable. In men, hygroma has for a long time been treated 
on the same principle. 
Wounds of the point of the hock may here receive consideration, as 
they are often of importance in the treatment of capped hock. As 
already stated, infectious processes in the skin and bursa almost always 
take a favourable course, and, though liable to be followed by some 
thickening, do not cause further trouble, even when the swelling is 
of considerable size. The same is true of wounds. It is quite otherwise 
in injuries of the bursa and tendon of the flexor pedis perforatus where 
it passes over the point of the hock, and suppuration or septic infection 
at this point is highly dangerous. Marked pain soon sets in, causing 
the leg to be continuously rested, and movement, as far as possible, 
avoided. The swelling extends over the joint towards the tibia, fever 
sets in, laminitis may attack the other foot, in consequence of the con¬ 
tinued weight on it, and the animal prove unable to stand. It then 
lies continuously, and, if not destroyed, soon dies from the effects 
(decubitus). 
The post-mortem examination shows the cartilaginous covering of the 
tuber calcanei to be partly or entirely destroyed, and the flexor pedis 
perforatus tendon more or less abraded. The severe pain and dangerous 
character of the disease are essentially due to movement of the tendon 
over the surface of the tuber calcanei, now denuded of cartilage. 
Any injury of the perforatus tendon, or even of its sheath, may 
provoke such results, and it is therefore scarcely needful to say that in 
recent wounds every effort must be made to prevent infection. 
