WOUNDS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 491 



once he will be found in a day or two to be very lame in the injured 

 member. If the foreign body remains in the foot, he giadually grows 

 worse from the time of puncture until the cause is discovered and 

 removed. If, when shoeing, a nail is driven into the "quick" (sensi- 

 tive lamina') and allowed to remain, the horse gradually evinces more 

 pain from day to day ; but if the nail has at once been removed by the 

 smith, lameness does not, as a rule, show itself for some days; or, if 

 the nail is simply driven ""■ too close," not actually pricking the horse, 

 he may not show any lameness for a week or even mucli longer. At 

 this point it is due to the blacksmith to say that, considering how thin 

 the walls of some feet are, the uneasiness of many horses while shoe- 

 ing, the ease with which a nail is diverted from its coui-se by striking 

 an old piece of nail left in the wall, or from the nail itself splitting, 

 the wonder is not that so many horses are pricked or nails driven 

 " too close,'' but rather that many more are not so injured. It is not, 

 by any means, always carelessness or ignorance on the part of the 

 smith that is to account for this accident. Bad and careless shoers 

 we do meet with, but let us be honest and say that the rarity of these 

 accidents points rather to the general care and attention given by 

 these much-abused mechanics. 



From the construction of the horse's foot (being incased in an iin- 

 peruieable, horny box), and from the elasticitj'^ of the horn closing 

 the orifice, punctured wounds of the feet are almost always produc- 

 tive of lameness. Inflammation results, and as there is no relief 

 afforded by swelling and no escape for the product of inflammation, 

 this matter must and does burrow between the sole or wall and the 

 sensitive parts within it until it generally opens "between hair and 

 hoof.'' "We can thus see why pain is so much more severe, why 

 tetanus (lockjaw) more frequently follows wounds of the feet, and 

 why, from the extensive, or at times complete, separation and "cast- 

 ing" of the hoof, these wounds must always be regarded with grave 

 apprehension. 



S}jmi>tom.s and tis^atment. — A practice which, if never deviated 

 from — that of picking up each foot, cleaning the sole, and thoroughly 

 examining the foot each and every time the horse comes into the 

 stable — will enable us to reduce to the minimum the serious conse- 

 quences of punctured womids of the feet. If the wound has resulted 

 from pricking, lameness follows soon after shoeing; if from the nails 

 being driven too close, it usually appears from four to five days or a 

 week afterwards. We should always inipiire as to the time of shoe- 

 ing, examine the shoe carefully, and see whether it has been partially 

 pulled and the horse has stepped back upon some of the nails or the 

 clip. The pain from these wounds is lancinating; the horse is seen to 

 rai.se and lower the limb or hold it from the ground altogether; often 

 he points the foot, flexes the leg, and knuckles at the fetlock. Swelling 



