WINDGALLS IN THE HORSE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 2712, 23 January 1892, Page 3 (Supplement)

WINDGALLS IN THE HORSE.

Windgalls, or bursal swelling immediately above the fetlock joint says foe Field), are Btill called windgalls in memory of tbe old beliei’ thut they were filled with air. In other positions they are designated by their proper names, bursal swelling or enlarged burse; and in all positions they are identical as to their pathology. They all consist of distended synovial sacs filled with ioint oil (synovia), with serous fluid! which is effused from the intiammed capillaries of the synovial fringes or membranes, os they are not quite correctly called. Treatment of bursal enlargements is only considered necessary under certain circumstances. Generally speaking, they do not cause lameness, excepting when there is inflammation present, or they attain such proportions as to obstruct the motion of joints or the movements of tendons. In all cases bursal enlargements are unsightly, and it is an object with the owner of tbe house to get rid of them, or reduce them as much as possible. For this purpose, nofoiog is so effectual as pressure r>y means of au elastic bandage or a trust ; and at foe present time instrument makers are equal to the emergency, aud can construct an apparatus to suit each case. From its position, foe hock joint is the most difficult to deal with ; but trusses have been made for applying regulated and continuous pressure both to the seat of bog or blood spavin and throughpin. The fetlock joints of the fore or bind legs are conveniently situated for tbe use of elastic bandage**, which can be adjusted so as to press on the windgalls with auy degree of force which may lie necessary. Other means of treatment are to be found in the different forms of counter-irri-

tation—setons, blisters, and firing. Either remedy may be used, according to circumstances, when the mechanical plan of treatment is considered too troublesome or too difficult to be worth trying. An effective method in old and severe cases is that of pas. - ing a seton under the skin over the enlargement, taking care net to wound the sac, and leaving the seton in for some weeks. Then, when the wounds have bealed and the inflammation has subsided, further counter-irritation may be applied in the form of a blister or the firing-iron. This plan of cure is rightly deemed severe, and would only be adopted in special cases which had resisted milder remedies.