Page 1112 - Equine Clinical Medicine, Surgery and Reproduction, 2nd Edition

Nervous system 1087

VetBooks.ir 10.39

Fig. 10.39 A lateral-lateral radiograph of the cranial
cervical vertebrae (C1–C2) in a 10-year-old eventer
that sustained a rotational fall over a fence and head-
butted the ground. The horse showed immediate
signs of neck stiffness, low head carriage, somnolence,
grade 2 quadrilateral ataxia and obvious soft tissue
swelling in the dorsal cranial neck. The radiograph
shows evidence of a fracture of the dens (odontoid
process) (Type IIa), with bone fragmentation and
malalignment of C1–C2.

10.40 10.41

10.42

Fig. 10.40 Displaced cervical (C5) fracture.

Fig. 10.41 Fracture of the cervical body of C5
(arrow) that occurred as a result of a fall.

Fig. 10.42 Foal with symmetrical grade 3 ataxia in
all four limbs. Note the swelling in the mid-caudal
neck. The foal had a fracture of C5, as displayed
in 10.40.

‘head-butt’ traumas in adult horses (Fig. 10.39). The body, arch or articular processes are usually associ-
lower cervical and cranial thoracic sites are the most ated with neurological signs.
common areas for vertebral fractures in the adult
horse (Figs. 10.40–10.42). Fractures of the thoracic Clinical presentation
dorsal spinous process are not usually associated with Neurological abnormalities are not always present in
neurological signs, whereas fractures of the vertebral cases of vertebral trauma. There is much variability