Lameness of the Horse: Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1Lacroix, John Victor
Science
Lameness of the Horse: Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1
Lacroix, John Victor
Horses -- Health; Lameness in horses
Treatment.--Rest is essential in the treatment of ringbone. If
diagnosed during its incipiency, remedial measures such as are usually
employed to treat sprains, are indicated and later the parts should be
blistered. When an exostosis has developed puncture firing is the remedy
_par excellence_. Not that this method of treatment is infallible, for
to any thinking one who takes into consideration the pathological
anatomy of this condition, it is evident that no manner of treatment is
beneficial in some cases. If the exostosis is so situated that it does
not mechanically interfere with function, and is not so large that it
may inhibit flexion and extension, and where the articular portions of
the joint are not eroded, good results attend the use of the actual
cautery.
In firing, after having anesthetized the extremity, and prepared the
surgical area, the cautery is deeply inserted in numerous places, taking
care, however, not to open the joint. The parts are immediately covered
with aseptic absorbent cotton and this dressing is left in position for
forty-eight hours and if perchance there is evidence of synovial
discharge, the parts are again aseptically dressed in order to prevent
infection of the articulation. If, as is the case usually, no
perforation of the joint capsule exists, the openings made by the
cautery have been closed by the coagulation of serum and there is then
little chance of infection causing trouble, even though the member is
left unbandaged.
In several instances, the author has treated ringbone by this method
where the periarticular type existed and lameness was marked, and in
three weeks the subjects were in service and not lame--this, in one
instance in a valuable polo pony where the subject continued in service
for more than a year without any evidence of recurrence of the lameness.
The production of a deep-seated and acute inflammation with the actual
cautery is preferable to any sort of counter-irritation which may be
produced by vesicants.
There is no occasion for any difference in the treatment of either of
the first three classes of ringbone, but in the rachitic type where
treatment is given, the application of a vesicant is all that is
required. In most instances treatment is not necessary.
The affected animals require a month to three months' time for recovery
to take place in the average favorable cases of ringbone.
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