390 
OBSERVATIONS ON FRACTURES 
unpleasant to use, even after the most successful treatment; 
they, therefore, can no longer suit the persons who possessed 
them, and who are mostly very jealous of the good qualities 
of their horses. One resource, however, remains, which is, to 
use them for breeding. 
For heavy slow work, such as the waggon or the plough, it 
signifies much less whether the horse is a little lame, so that he 
can work. In these sorts of animals a slight blemish is not an 
essential defect; and there ought to be less hesitation in attempt¬ 
ing to cure their fractures, w'hen it is practicable, than those of 
high-bred horses ; for, I repeat, they lose much less of their 
value. The following cases, added to those already published by 
skilful veterinarians, wall prove that the cure of fractures is not 
so difficult as it has too long been thought to be, and that the 
expense of the treatment may be much less than has been 
imagined. 
Case I.—Fracture of the coxal bone (the hip or haunch bone), 
at the ischium, near the cotyloid cavity (the acetabulum). 
In 1818, a saddle mare of English breed, about eight years 
old, belonging to a stranger, fractured the right side of the coxal 
bone at the ischium near the cotyloid cavity. This fracture was 
got in hunting, when the animal leaped a wide ditch. The lame¬ 
ness which it occasioned was such, that the toe of the foot 
scarcely touched the ground, so long as the motion was a little 
rapid : when the motion was slow, the foot was placed straight 
down ; but the limb was with great difficulty moved forward. On 
applying my right hand to the fractured part, which did not 
exhibit any heat, and seizing with my left hand the point of the 
thigh, I felt a movement of the ischium which easily enabled me 
to judge of the fracture, and its seat, and to discover that none 
of the fractured parts were displaced. 
1 ordered her to be kept quiet for three w^eeks, and then per¬ 
mitted them to leave her loose in the stable. At the end of two 
months she was mounted, and exercised at a foot-pace ; and in 
another month she was fit to take the longest day’s work without 
going lame: the following year she was sold into the stud of 
M. le Baron de Stael, atCoppet, where she produced some good 
foals. 
Case II.—Fracture of the first phalange, the larger pastern 
bone. 
These fractures are not uncommon; I have seen this bone 
fractured in four horses. 
In two of these horses, the bone was fractured into several 
pieces, and the animals were destroyed, as they were of little 
value : the other two were cured. 
