COMMON ACCIDENTS. 19 



the suspected place, in order to let the matter out. If there 

 is much inflammation in the foot, it may become needful to 

 bleed a little from the toe ; though I cannot refrain from 

 remarking of bleeding in general, that the less it is resorted 

 to, the better. Then place a little Friars' balsam on some 

 tow or linen, and insert it into the abscess. Give the horse 

 a cooling diet, such as bran, carrots, and, if the season admits 

 of it, green meat, in lieu of corn. Unless the injury is one 

 of extra severity, a fevr days will, in all probability, see the 

 animal quite sound again. 



Quittor may be the result of any wound in the foot, such 

 as a severe blow to the coronet, &c. An ulcer forms, but 

 instead of the matter, as in ordinary cases, discharging out- 

 wardly from the wound, it is confined within the hoof, and, 

 as Mr. Youatt puts it, "... pent up there, and increasing in 

 quantity, and urging its way in every direction, it forces the 

 little fleshy plates of the coflin-bone from the horny ones of 

 the crust, or the horny sole from the fleshy sole, and even 

 eats deeply into the internal parts of the foot. These pipes, 

 or sinuses, run in every direction, and constitute the essence 

 of quittor." At last it forces its way out at the top of the 

 foot, and produces an oozing wound. The original injured 

 place in the sole of the foot should be opened, so that the 

 matter will come downwards, and the sinus heal from the 

 top. A piece of lint, soaked in Friars' balsam, and inserted 

 by means of a probe, will generally induce the sides of the 

 sinus to heal. In cases of long standing, or of unusual obsti- 

 nacy, the experience and skill of the veterinary surgeon had 

 better be requisitioned. 



An accident which every hunting season brings plenty of 

 examples of, is one caused by the rider's spur catching in a 

 horse's shoulder or sides, in the course of a fall. Ugly gashes 

 are frequently made thus ; but they are almost as easily cured. 

 Sponge the place with warm water, and, in a day or two, use 

 a weak mixture of the tincture of arnica and water. 



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