ACCIDENTS TO THE LEGS. 547 
bone, it will, by causing the horse to step more on his heels, effect an 
absolute improvement in the shape of the foot, and hence it has some- 
times been considered to have produced a cure. Where, however, there is 
caries of the bone, or even ulceration of the synovial membrane, the 
disease progresses even faster than before the operation, and in process of 
time the joint becomes mechanically unfit to perform its duties. 
ACCIDENTS TO THE LEGS AND FEET. 
THESE PARTS ARE SUBJECT to a variety of accidents, trifling perhaps in 
the cause which produces them, but serious in their effects, from the 
lameness which ensues. The chief of these are ordinary cutting, speedy 
cutting, and pricks of the foot either from putting the sole down upon 
a nail or a piece of glass, or driving a nail improperly in shoeing. Bruises 
and over-reaches also come under this head. 
ORDINARY CUTTING may occur either before or behind, the latter being 
the more common. It is often met with in poor horses, where the flesh 
is so reduced in substance that the legs are brought nearer together than 
in a proper condition. Here all that is required is patience, till the legs 
. are restored to their proper relative position, taking care in the meantime 
that there is no permanent injury done. Usually the inside of one or 
both feet strikes the fetlock joint of the other leg in passing it, but some- 
times the blow is given higher up, and it may occur anywhere on the 
cannon bone except just below the knee, when it is called “speedy 
cutting,” which will be separately considered. Sometimes this blow on 
the side of the cannon bone is either the cause or the effect of a splint, 
the blow of the foot having a tendency to produce exostosis (see Splints, 
page 454). But if a splint is thrown out on a part of the cannon bone 
which comes in the way of the natural action, the horse whose foot pre- 
viously passed clear of that part of the other leg will hit it, and not only 
give pain, but cause a considerable access of inflammation in the previous 
enlargement. In the treatment, therefore, of cutting, it is necessary to 
prevent the habit being continued from the swelling produced either by 
a splint or by previous blows. A horse perhaps, either from weakness or 
bad shoeing, hits his leg and produces considerable swelling and soreness. 
Here, unless the swelling is reduced or protected, there is no chance of 
preventing the cutting, because there is a projection of the swollemr soft 
parts right in the way of the other fcot. No alteration of the shoeing, 
and no increase of strength or flesh, will be of service until the inflam- 
mation is reduced, and the sore, if any exists, is healed, and this can only 
be done either by rest or by protecting the leg with a boot. ‘The latter is 
the better plan, and wherever a horse cuts it is, in my opinion, advisable 
to let him wear a boot for some weeks, until the skin is quite sound again 
and reduced to its proper thickness. A piece of an old rug folded round 
the leg so as slightly to overlap, and then tied with a tape and turned 
down over the fetlock joint, is quite sufficient to serve this temporary 
purpose, and being soft it is well calculated to protect a swollen joint ; 
but if it is worn for any length of time, the pressure of the tape and the 
friction of the grit from the road wear away the hair, and cause an un- 
sightly appearance, which is sometimes permanent. If, therefore, the 
cutting is not rectified completely in the course of a month or six weeks, 
a leather or india-rubber boot should he nicely adapted to the joint and 
buckled round it, the flat surface of the strap not having so injurious an 
effect as the tape of the cloth boot. When the cutting takes place above 
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