ENLARGEMENT OF SYNOVIAL CAVITIES IN FORE LIMB. 
553 
calls for greater care in treatment than that of extensors. The first 
variety may be divided as follows :— 
1. Knee galls. At the back of the knee the flexor pedis has a large 
bursa, which begins about 4 inches above the joint and extends about 
one-third down the metacarpus (fig. 203, c). Eichbaum says that above 
and below the joint its lateral walls are unprovided with fibrous 
strengthening coats, and thus explains why the swelling appears above 
and below the knee, and sometimes on the inner sometimes on the 
outer side. The enlargement may be¬ 
come excessive (fig. 202), but gene¬ 
rally takes the form of a longish, soft 
swelling, the outline of which corre¬ 
sponds with the borders of the bursa. 
When the limb is lifted, the com¬ 
munication between the upper and 
lower portions of the swelling is easily 
detected by palpation. 
2. Wind galls. The above-described 
tendon sheath only extends as far as 
the beginning of the middle third of 
the metacarpus, the next portion of the 
flexor pedis being surrounded by loose 
connective tissue. At the lower third 
another tendon sheath begins and ex¬ 
tends downwards behind the fetlock- 
joint to the centre of the coronet bone 
(fig. 203, d). Its posterior wall is con¬ 
nected with the flexor pedis tendon, Fig. 202.—Distension of the flexor pedis 
..... . _ . r >, bursa (most marked on the outer side of 
whilst below the tetiock a flbious ex- the limb). After a photograph. 
tension surrounds it so firmly that 
swelling can only occur above the fetlock-joint, and (on account of 
the position of the flexor tendons) on either side. At this point the 
sheath is covered with loose connective tissue, which favours the 
production of the two characteristic longish swellings lying on either 
side of the lower end of the metacarpus, close to the flexor pedis 
tendon, and extending upwards towards the middle third of the cannon 
bone. Their size varies greatly; sometimes they can only just be de¬ 
tected, sometimes they are as large as a goose’s egg. Occasionally 
they appear below the fetlock in the pastern region, and are then of 
a more flattened form. Wind galls are very common. They generally 
result from chronic synovitis, though in the hind feet a peculiar form, 
termed indurated wind galls, are produced by a tendovaginitis chronica 
fibrosa. 
