436 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



In some horses the skin on the site of the collar is studded with small 

 tumours about the size of a bean or a marble, which are caused to enlarge 

 by the constant chafing, and sooner or later to break into obstinate sores. 



Eczematous and other eruptions in this situation are also soon converted 

 into superficial wounds by the same means. 



Now and again an inflammatory swelling appears, at first of limited 

 extent, but gradually increasing in size over a period of weeks or months 

 until it reaches the dimensions of a cricket ball or a moderate-sized turnip. 



Its growth is slow, and may for some time Ite hardly perceptible. At 

 first it does not seriously incommode the animal, but as it develops sore- 

 ness increases, and the time sooner or later arrives when the collar cannot 

 be borne. It commences as a hard, diffused fulness, which slowly spreads. 

 After several weeks or months a fluctuating point appears on the surface, 

 indicating the presence of an abscess, which in due course breaks and 

 discharges its contents. 



Treatment. — In all cases of sore shoulders, whatever its form may be, 

 the cause should be removed. This will require that the use of the collar 

 be discontinued, or substituted by a breast collar. Frec^uently this is all 

 that will be necessary, but a dose of physic and a few days' rest will hasten 

 recovery. 



Where a local application is needed, the part should be well washed and 

 dried, and then dusted over with a powder composed of boracic acid and 

 ilour twice or thrice a day. A weak solution of alum or carbolic acid is 

 also a useful application. 



Shoulder abscess, to which we have referred above, is usually deeply 

 seated among the muscles of the part, and requires a considerable time to 

 come to the surface. It is usual with some practitioners to apply a 

 repetition of blisters to the part at suitable intervals, with the object of 

 exciting inflammation in the tissues, to hasten its formation, and those who 

 are not skilled in surgical practice might safely adopt this course and wait 

 results. Others cut down upon the abscess, evacuate the pus, and lay the 

 cavity open; or, should no pus be found to exist, the growth is removed 

 wholly or in part, according to circumstances, and the wound treated in the 

 ordinary way. (See Sj^ecial Treatment of Wounds, p. 410.) 



