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
Median neurectomy is of service in many instances where lameness is not
completely relieved by the use of the actual cautery and no bad results
attend the performance of this operation even though no benefit is
derived thereby. Plantar neurectomy is contraindicated in all cases
where there exists much lameness. If lameness is due to acute
inflammation bad results such as sloughing and loss of the hoof may
follow; and if large exostoses mechanically interfere with function of
the joint, or where articular erosions exist, no possible good can come
from neurectomy. Careful discrimination should be employed in selecting
cases for neurectomy for this operation; otherwise, it is very likely to
prove disappointing.
Open Sheath of the Flexors of the Phalanges.
This condition does not differ from a like affection involving other
tendons except that the function of these tendons is such that large
synovial sheaths are necessary, and when synovitis exists, the condition
then becomes more serious.
Infectious synovitis involving these tendons in the fetlock region is of
more frequent occurrence than a like affection of carpal or tarsal
sheaths. With the exception of the extent of the involvement and
distress occasioned thereby, synovitis the result of open tendon
sheaths, is similar wherever it occurs.
Etiology.--The same conditions which are responsible for open fetlock
joint and other wounds of the pastern region, cause open tendon sheaths
of the flexor tendons.
Symptomatology.--Because of the size and extent of this sheath and the
different manner in which it is opened, there is manifested dissimilar
symptoms in different cases. A nail puncture which perforates the sheath
in the pastern region and at the same time produces an infectious
synovitis, will cause a markedly different manifestation than will a
wound which freely opens the sheath above the fetlock. In the first
instance, the condition is much more painful; swelling is intense in
some cases; and if the subject does not possess sufficient resistance so
that spontaneous resolution promptly occurs, surgical evacuation of pus
is usually necessary. When these tendon sheaths are opened, there
follows a reaction which is quite analogous to that which exists in
arthritic synovitis, but instead of ankylosis, adhesions with thecal
obliteration occur. Rarely there result cartilaginous and osseous
formations.
The constitutional disturbances which characterize this condition vary
with the degree of distress occasioned. As the infection is virulent and
causes serious destruction of the affected parts, so does evidence of
malaise and finally distress appear. Detailed discussions of
symptomatology in similar conditions have heretofore been given, and
further repetition is unnecessary.
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