470 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



the biniodide of mercury, applied in the following way: Take of 

 biniodide of mercury, one part, fresh hog's lard, eight parts, say two ounces, 

 and apply as an ordinary blister, by rubbing in a small quantity at a time, 

 and continuing the operation for ten minutes. Thin skinned horses will 

 require less rubbing than those with thick, coarse hides. If the hair is long 

 it should be clipped closely off. After the blister has been applied, tie the 

 animal's head so that it cannot gnaw the part, and keep so for twenty-four 

 hours, then wash the blister off with warm water and grease the surface with 

 fresh lard, or olive oil. Grease every week until the new hair begins to 

 grow. In recent cases, where there may be active fever in the joint, it is 

 well to foment it thoroughly for a few days before applying the blister. 



The lameness from this disease can generally be overcome in young and 

 middle aged horses, but in old animals, especially if it has existed for any 

 length of time, it will baffle all forms of treatment in the majority of 

 instances. The animal should not be worked during treatment. The blis- 

 ter may be applied every three weeks or so until, say four, have been put on, 

 and the animal kept in a loose box or allowed to run in a quiet pasture, 

 except when it is necessary to secure the head while the blister is doing 

 active work. 



Ring-bone 



is a name applied to a deposit of bone between the fetlock joint and the 

 coronet, or upper part of the foot. The condition is so named from the 

 appearance the deposit gives to the part, it often seeming to the observer as 

 if a ring of bone had formed around the pastern joint. These deposits do 

 not always extend completely around the joint, but may be situated at the 

 side, when they are sometimes erroneously confused with "side-bone," a> 

 disease, as already described, of an entirely different nature. The nature of 

 this disease (ring-bone) in a scientific point of view, is identical with bone 

 spavin, they both belonging to that class of osseous diseases termed exostosis, 

 the principal difference between them being their situation. The deposits 

 of ringbone are found in one of two places, and in such a position as to either 

 affect the pastern joint or the one below it, called the coffin joint. In some 

 instances it may involve both. Some authorities have described it as occa- 

 sionally affecting the fetlock joint, though rarely. This disease, like spavin, 

 is incurable, although the lameness caused by it may be overcome, which is 

 usually spoken of as a cure. 



King-bones sometimes assume considerable dimensions without ever 

 causing any apparent inconvenience to the animal, while much small- 

 er ones give rise to very intractable lameness, the degree of which 

 depends materially upon the extent to which the internal structures 

 of the joint are involved. When the lameness has been successfully com- 

 bated, and the union of the bones completely effected, it is sometimes 

 astonishing to see how much of the enlargement will become absorbed, so 

 much so that casual observers will be often led to believe that the disease 

 has been completely cured, and this is only a natural supposition, for in such 

 favorable cases not only the lameness but the enlargement have entirely 

 disappeared, but were the bones of such a case cleaned of their external 

 covering, it would at once be seen that two of them at least had grown firmly 

 together, or in other words, that the process of "anchylosis" had taken 



