HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT 



117 



!the disease progresses even faster than be- 

 fore the operation, and in process of time 

 the joint becomes mechanically unfit to 

 perform its duties. 



HORSE, Legs and Feet, Accidents to 

 the. — These parts are subject to a variety 

 of accidents, trifling perhaps in the cause 

 which produces them, but serious in their 

 effects, from the lameness which ensues. 

 The chief of these are ordinary cutting, 

 speedy cutting, and pricks of the foot 

 either from putting the sole down upon a 

 nail or a piece of glass, or driving a nail 

 improperly in shoeing. Bruises and over- 

 reaches also come under this head. 



Ordinary cutting may occur either be- 

 fore or behind, the latter being the more 

 common. It is often met with in poor 

 horses, where the flesh is so reduced in 

 substance that the legs are brought nearer 

 together than in a proper condition. Here 

 all that is required is patience, till the 

 legs are restored to their proper relative 

 position, taking care in the meantime that 

 there is no permanent injury done. Us- 

 ually the inside of one or both feet strike 

 the fetlock joint of the other leg in pas- 

 sing it, but sometimes the blow is given 

 higher up, and it may occur anywhere on 

 the cannon bone except just below the 

 knee, when it is called " speedy cutting," 

 which will be separately considered. 

 Sometimes this blow on the cannon bone 

 is either the cause or the effect of a splint, 

 the blow of the foot having a tendency 

 to produce exostosis (see Splints). But 

 if a splint is thrown out on a part of the 

 cannon bone which comes in the way of 

 the natural action, the horse whose foot 

 previously passed clear of that part of 

 the other leg will hit it, and not only give 

 pain, but cause a considerable access of 

 inflammation in the previous enlarge- 

 ment. In the treatment, therefore, of 

 cutting, it is necessary to prevent the 

 habit being continued from the swelling 

 produced either by a splint or by previous 

 blows. A horse, perhaps, either from 

 weakness or bad shoeing, hits his legs 

 and produces considerable swelling and 

 soreness. Here, unless the swelling is re- 

 duced or protected, there is no chance of 

 preventing the cutting, because there is a 

 projection of the swollen soft parts right 

 in the way of the other foot. No altera- 

 tion of the shoeing, and no increase of 

 strength or flesh, will be of service until 



the inflammation is reduced, and the sore, 

 if any exists, is healed, and this can only 

 be done either by rest or by protecting the 

 leg with a boot. The latter is the better 

 plan, and wherever a horse cuts it is, in 

 our opinion, advisable to let him wear a 

 boot for some weeks, until the skin is 

 quite sound again and reduced to its 

 proper thickness. A piece of an old rug 

 folded round the leg so as slightly to over- 

 lap, and then tied with a tape and turned 

 down over the fetlock joint, is quite suf- 

 ficent to serve this temporary purpose, 

 and being soft it is well calculated to pro- 

 tect a swollen joint ; but if it is worn any 

 length of time, the pressure of the tape 

 and the friction of the grit from the road 

 wear away the hair, and cause an un- 

 sightly appearance, which is sometimes 

 permanent. If, therefore, the cutting is 

 not rectified completely in the course of a 

 month or six weeks, a leather or india- 

 rubber boot should be nicely adapted to 

 the joint and buckled round it, the flat 

 surface of the strap not having so injuri- 

 ous an effect as the tape of the cloth 

 boot. When the cutting takes place 

 above the joint, a pad must be adapted 

 to its inside, and fastened round the can- 

 non bone by two or three buckles, accord- 

 ing to the height at which the injury takes 

 place. 



Such is the best mode of guarding 

 against the injury done by cutting, but 

 we must also consider how it can be en- 

 tirely prevented. In the first place, it 

 should be carefully ascertained by what 

 part of the foot or shoe the blow is given. 

 Most commonly it will be found, by 

 chalking the inside of the foot, that a 

 small patch is rubbed clear of chalk, 

 about half an inch above the middle of 

 the quarter, and corresponding with the 

 hindermost nail hole, especially when 

 four inside nails are used. When this is 

 the hitting point, if great care is taken to 

 avoid driving in a nail there, the tenden- 

 cy to cut can never be increased as it 

 often is by a raised clench, and at the 

 same time the rasp may safely be used 

 to reduce the thicknees of the hoof at 

 least the eighth of an inch, or often 

 much more. The crust is usually here 

 about three-eighths of an inch thick, and 

 very often it is so sound that it will bear 

 to be rasped down till there is only one- 

 eighth left, provided it has not to bear 



