kind of injury in mature horses usually produces an irreparable
condition, and viewed economically, is generally considered fatal.

Comminuted Fractures, as the term implies, are those cases wherein the
bone is reduced to a number of small pieces. This kind of break may be
classified as simple-comminuted fracture when the skin is unbroken, and
when the bone is exposed as a result of the injury, it is known as a
compound-comminuted fracture. Such fractures are caused by violent
contusion or where the member is caught between two objects and
crushed.


Multiple Fractures.

Fractures are called _multiple_ when the bone is reduced to a number of
pieces of large size. This condition differs from a comminuted fracture
in that the multiple fracture may break the bone into several pieces
without the pieces being ground or crushed, and the affected bone may
still retain its normal shape.

Further classification is of value in describing fractures of bone with
respect to the manner in which the bone is broken--the direction of the
fissure or fissures in relation to its long axis.

A fracture is _transverse_ when the bone is broken at a right angle from
its long axis. Such breaks when simple, are the least trouble to care
for because there is little likelihood that the broken ends of bone will
become so displaced that they will not remain in apposition. _Simple
transverse_ fracture of the metacarpus, for instance, constitutes a
favorable case for treatment if other conditions are favorable.