342 CHAPTER 44. 



cold water bandage to the part, will probably be sufficient to restore it to 

 hcaltli. 



If the injury be at all severe, our object will be in the first instance to 

 reduce the inflammation. This will be best effected by vest and cold 

 water bandage. Care must be taken, that the bandages are kept tho- 

 roughly wet throughout the day. At night the bandages should be taken 

 off. The skin requires rest. The wet bandages should be continued by 

 day, or a jet or hose may be used. 



All corn must be withheld, and the horse prepared for physic which 

 may be given or not according to circumstances. If the animal is in high 

 condition, and especially if fever supei-venes, it will probably be useful. 



With the view of taking the weight off the injured part, a high-heeled 

 or patten shoe should be applied. In some few very severe cases, it may 

 be desirable to put the horse in slings. 



As soon as the inflammation is reduced, we shall be able to judge more 

 accurately of the degree of the injury. If it does not appear to be very 

 severe, it is probable that a blister applied over and for some distance 

 round the injured part may be sufficient to restore it to health. If, how- 

 ever, it is very severe, the more powerful remedies of setons or firing may 

 be required in order to make the animal permanently upright. 



The modus operandi of these remedies and their comparative advan- 

 tages and disadvantages, have been already fully dwelt upon in the 

 chapter on Iriitants, No. 19 ; but the author does not hesitate again to 

 express his preference for setons, especially in sprains of the Metacarpal 

 or superior Sesamoideal ligament, where the parts are deep-seated. 



Adhesion between the tendon and its sheath is a common result of a 

 violent sprain. These structures may become cemented together by the 

 lymph effused during the inflammatory process, if the surplus of that 

 reparative material is not duly taken up and removed by the absorbents 

 and blood-vessels during or after the process of restoration of the injured 

 part. The adhesion causes an obstruction to the free play of the tendon 

 in its sheath, and thereby produces lameness. The inconvenience is most 

 felt when the horse first comes out of his stable, and becomes less when 

 he has been some time at exercise. With a view of preventing this result, 

 it is usual to blister the leg again towards the termination of the repara- 

 tive process. In favorable cases the blood-vessels and absorbents, being 

 by this means excited to renewed action at this stage, may be able to 

 carry off the effused products of the previous stage. The callosities so 

 often felt in tendons after severe sprains are generally due to the effect 

 of adhesion. 



In cases of very serious injuries, such as complete rupture of the Meta- 

 carpal or of the superior Sesamoideal ligament, it will be most merciful, 

 and probably cheapest in the end, to destroy the animal at once. 



688. After-treatment. 



When complete restoration has been effected, the patient must be 

 brought only veiy gradually into work. Even in those cases, where the 

 treatment has been perfectly successful, it must be remembered tl^at all 



