Fractures of the equine carpus: A report on 57 cases

Abstract

Extract

In recent years there has been an increasing awareness that carpal fractures are an important cause of lameness in fast-gaited horses. From both America (Park et al, 1970; Thrall et al., 1971), and Australia (Larsen and Dixon, 1970) observations on series of carpal fractures have been published and these indicate that the condition is confined mainly to the racing animal. The purpose of this paper is to present a series of 57 cases of fractures involving the carpal joint that have occurred under New Zealand racing conditions and to compare them inter alia with previous reports from other countries.