THE RIBS. 109 



In neglected fistulous withers the ulcer may be larger and deeper, ana 

 more destructive than in poll-evil. It may burrow beneath the shoulder, 

 blade and the matter may appear at the point of the shoulder or the elbjw j 

 or the bones of the withers may become carious. 



WARBLES, SITFASTS, AND SADDLE GALLS 



On other parts of the back, tumours and very troublesome ulcers may 

 be produced by the same cause. The little tumours resulting from the 

 pressure of the saddle are called warhles, and when they ulcerate they fre- 

 quently become sUfasts. The ulcer has a portion of callous skin in the 

 centre of it, resembling leather in its appearance, and so closely adhering 

 as not to be separated without great force or absolute dissection; and 

 hence the name given to this peculiar ulcer. Warbles are too often but 

 little regarded. They will frequently disappear without medical treatment, 

 but they will, at other times, degenerate into sitfasts. If it be practicable, 

 the horse should have rest, or at all events, the stuffing of the saddle should 

 be so contrived that every degree of pressure be removed from the part: 

 then goulard and vinegar or brine should be frequently applied for the 

 purpose of dispelling the enlargement. Should this prove inetTective, and 

 the sitfast appear, let it by no means be torn out, but apply a mild blister, 

 which will cause it speedily to separate ; and then let the wound be dressed 

 with friar's balsam, or Turner's cerate, or both. 



For saddle galls there is no better application than strong salt and water, 

 mixed with a fourth-part of the tincture of myrrh. Common sense and 

 common humanity would suggest the necessity of chambering the saddle 

 and the collar, and not suffering the animal, with sore places as broad 

 as the hand, to be unnecessarily tortured by the rubbing of the rough and 

 hardened stuffing. 



THE RIBS. 



The ribs constitute the sides of the chest. They are usually eighteen on 

 either side, and, in a few instances, nineteen or twenty. They are crooked 

 or twisted in their figure, but so united to the spine by a true joint, the 

 head of each rib being received between the bodies of two of the bones of 

 the back, that they form so many arches, differing in roundness in different 

 horses. The first rib (a) is placed at the base of the column of the neck, 

 and is short and strong, in order to support the weight and pressure of the 

 head and neck, and to be a fixed point for the other ribs to act upon in 

 expanding and contracting the chest. The second is longer and straight, 

 to assist in the same office, and to sustain the stress which arises from the 

 suspension of the trunk beneath the shoulders. The other ribs (e) have 

 Ihe arched form which we have described. The lower extremity of the rib 

 is attached to or composed of cartilage, a yielding elastic substance, to 

 enable the ribs to be more easily moved by the muscles of respiration, and 

 to bring them back again to their natural situation and shape when the 

 muscles cease to act. These cartilages are received into, and constitute 

 joints with the sternum or breast-bone, formed almost in the shape of the 

 prow of a ship (c), and with a projection of cartilage at each end. The 

 projection before is evident to the eye in the living horse, and is called the 

 point of the breast. This is occasionally injured by blows, or by the pres- 

 sure of the collar, and first a tumour, and then an ulcer is formed, which is 

 very apt to become fistulous, and must be treated like poll-evil or fistulous 

 withers. 



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