rticular 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.
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
sympto
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