The horse is often stunned from a side or a back fall, or from running against some fixed obstacle. The blow falls with such violence that the brain receives a shock from which it does not immediately recover. The horse lies motionless for three or four minutes; few lie longer without return of sense. Nothing can be done but to remove harness, girths, or whatever may encumber him. He should not be urged to rise, till he is fairly restored to himself. When the skull is fractured, the bones driven into the brain, the horse either dies immediately, or in less than forty-eight hours, never being able to get up. Fracture of the skull is not always indicated by an external mark. But it may be surmised, if the horse be unable to rise, or to stand when raised. Time is to be allowed for him to recover from stunning. Unless death be immediate, the horse always struggles. There is no palsy like that produced by fracture of the neck, or of the back. One or two of the legs, generally two on one side, are powerless when the horse is raised, but in almost every case he can move them while he is lying. When raised it is apparent that he can put only two below him.

I have never known a horse recover from an injury of this kind.