Dear Erin
There is quite a lot in the veterinary literature on this subject. For
example:
STASHAK, T. S. (2002) Adams' Lameness in Horses, Philadelphia,
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins (and there might be a later edition).
I have on my desk this very moment a metacarpal of a modern work horse
with one accessory metacarpal fused and the other unfused. This horse
was over 20 years old and had had a hard life. Metapodial fusion is
clearly not a useful feature for ageing horses. It appears that the
accessory metapodials fuse to the central as the animal ages sometimes,
but not always. In some cases however there is clear evidence of 'new'
bone where they join, that indicates some kind of abnormality, perhaps
an injury. I think that there are still a lot of questions about the
meaning of the fusion of the central and accessory metapodials for
horses of any age.
regards,
Marsha Levine
On 29/01/2010 12:48, Erin Jackson wrote:
> Hello
>
> I have a post-medieval horse metacarpal 3 that has fused with the
> metacarpal 2. Everything I have read so far has said that this
> happens in an "older" individual. Does anyone have a more specific
> age range for this type of fusion? Additionally, would this fusion
> have occurred naturally with time, or are their outside forces which
> can contribute to this?
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> Erin Jackson
>
--
Dr. Marsha Levine, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, England
phone: +44 (0)1223-339347 / fax: +44 (0)1223-339285
http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~ml12/
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