Lameness of the Horse

Lameness of the Horse is by John Victor Lacroix. The text says fractures are classified by many authorities as being simple, compound, and comminuted. A simple fracture is defined as a condition where the continuity of the bone has been broken without serious destruction of the soft structures adjacent, and where no opening has been made to the surface of the flesh.

A compound fracture is a break of bone with the destruction of the soft tissues covering it, making an open wound to the surface of the skin, and is serious because of the attendant danger of infection. The text reports that at the Kansas City Veterinary College a very aged mare with a multiple fracture of the first phalanx was treated and at the end of sixty days was able to walk into an ambulance, though large exostoses had developed and the subject remained lame. The text reports cases of animals that have suffered rupture of the long digital extensor and learned to throw the member forward during extension.