THE INJURED LEG, HARD, HOT,
TENSE, AND SWOLLEN—ALL
RESULTING FROM THE INJUDICIOUS
EMPLOYMENT OF BANDAGES.
Something of this kind happens when a synovial sheath is punctured. The tendon comes in contact with its investing synovial membrane; but there are reasons why that circumstance is not so serious as when the lubricating fluid is released from the cavity of a joint. Tendons support no weight, and their motion is, with the sick, almost optional. The bones are the pillars on which the body rests; even while the frame is prostrated, a certain degree of pressure is upon them; for that reason, and also because tendon is more highly organized than cartilage, the first-mentioned substance is endowed with the greater renovating energy. An open joint is consequently far more serious than a punctured sheath.
Notwithstanding the serious nature of these accidents when wrongly treated, few injuries yield more kindly to proper measures than open joint. However, should the ordinary treatment of caustics and bandages be adopted, the entire limb, before the expiration of a week, will be hot, hard, and tense. The health of the animal will be seriously affected by the continued irritation, and the body will rapidly become emaciated. The foot of the limb will with evident difficulty be held from the ground. Should not death interpose—the animal being unable to lie down, and the entire weight being cast upon the sound limb—the foot attached to the healthy member frequently becomes affected with the worst form of incurable laminitis.
OSSEOUS STRUCTURE HAS BEEN THROWN OUT,
CAUSING ENLARGED KNEE AND PERMANENT
BLEMISH—THE RESULTS OF USING BANDAGES.
EXTENSIVE LOSS OF HAIR, GENERAL ENLARGEMENT
OF THE KNEE, AND ORGANIZED THICKENING OF THE
SCAR—RESULTING FROM THE USE OF BANDAGES.
Even should such a misfortune as laminitis not occur, the after-deformity and blemish renders the horse almost worthless. The bones sympathize in the general disease, and a large osseous deposit is engendered to mark the surgical inaptitude. When bony growth does not follow, the parts lying immediately over the knee thicken; the skin sloughs, and, the integument never being restored, a full knee with a lasting blemish is the consequence.