SPRAIN OF THE CORONARY JOINT. 
599 
After the fourth day, absorbents like mercurial ointment generally act 
better. Warm moist applications are of the greatest service, and should 
be supplemented by pressure, which conduces alike to local rest and 
resorption. In many cases this treatment is sufficient. If, after 
diminution of inflammatory symptoms, severe swelling remain, the 
parts may be massaged with a mixture of equal parts of mercurial 
ointment and soft soap (B.P.), and walking exercise be given. If this 
prove unsuccessful, blisters of cantharides or sublimate may be applied ; 
point or line firing is even better. In obstinate cases this treatment 
may with advantage be alternated, blisters being followed up by moist 
warmth and methodical compression, which is especially useful for 
chronic thickening. 
Rest is necessary throughout the treatment, and even to test his 
soundness the horse should not be moved more than necessary. To 
prevent further strains, the floor of the box should be flat and be 
covered with a layer of sawdust, sand, or peat. The bedding should 
be abundant, but if straw is used it should be cut into eighteen-inch 
lengths to prevent it winding round the animal’s legs. When lameness 
disappears, the animal may be slowly exercised on soft ground—if 
possible on sand—and precautions taken against fresh slips. 
The long-toed shoe, formerly recommended against “knuckling,” 
should be carefully avoided, on account of its aggravating any existing 
inflammation in the injured ligaments. Contraction is best combated 
by slow, cautious exercise during the period of convalescence. 
The diseased joint may sometimes be fixed by a plaster bandage. 
In the fetlock the best application is a splint formed of several 
thicknesses of stout canvas sewn together. 
As the coronet-joint can scarcely be fixed in this way, however, strict 
rest and the application of a blister may be substituted. 
III.—FRACTURES OF THE PHALANGES. 
In the horse, fissures and fractures are commonest in the os suffraginis, 
comparatively rare in the os coronae and os pedis. Such fractures may 
be transverse, longitudinal or comminuted, simple or compound. They 
are often the result of violent slips or sudden turns, and therefore are 
especially frequent in race-horses. They may also be caused by jumping 
or falling in races, but in addition occur in heavy van-horses employed 
for slow draught, particularly in winter when the roads are frozen. In 
riding-horses a frequent cause is sudden turning, simulfaneous fracture 
of the os suffraginis in more than one limb being produced in this way. 
Roder saw in a horse, transverse fracture of both front and of the right 
hind pastern bones following a fall. Wentworth describes fracture 
