SJ'RINGS 



some similar injury. Consequently, it is not always easy 

 for a non-professional man to distinguish between the two, 

 but the effects of a blow will wear off more quickly than 

 those of a strain. 



Treatment. — First and foremost, absolute rest is essential 

 for the cure of a sprain, and therefore the less a horse moves 

 for a few days the better it will be for him. Cold water 

 bandages and fomentations should, of course, be applied at 

 very frequent intervals ; indeed, if it is possible to do so, 

 the limb should be placed in a pailful of cold water, and 

 kept there for some time two or three times a day. The 

 application of some effective liniment, if thoroughly but 

 tenderly rubbed in, will assist in a cure. (See Liniments.) 



Springs. — In the early days of carriage-building, even 

 as late as the reign of the Charles, a period at which only 

 royalty and nobility possessed coaches, they were hung upon 

 a perch carriage without springs. Not much inconvenience, 

 however, was felt, as these coaches were seldom used for other 

 than gala occasions, such as when monarchs and their suite 

 visited royalty or high civic dignitaries, and only travelled 

 at a very slow pace. It can easily be understood that all 

 coach-makers of that period were endeavouring to find some 

 mode of suspension which would give more ease and comfort 

 to the riders, more especially as they were at that time all 

 of high degree. 



The next development was to fix carved standards at 

 each end of the perch, which extended some 3 or 4 feet 

 beyond the coach body, and suspend the body from the 

 four standards to each of the bottom corners of the body 

 with ropes or leather traces. This was found to give a 

 limited amount of ease to the riders. 



The next development was the whip spring, so called 

 from its resemblance of the springs to the top of a whip 

 when the weight of the body was on. These springs were 

 attached to the standards and the leather traces to the top 

 of the spring. The C. spring of the present day is only a 



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