CHAPTER XIX 



LOCKJAW 



Is lockjaw a common disorder ? 



'Fortunately not, being very dangerous.' 



^Vhat produces it ? 



'Such similar causes as produce it in man. A naii 

 cutting a nerve in the foot, sometimes a splinter of wood, 

 or wounds which cause great inflammation and poison the 

 system. Unless great care be taken in "docking," lockjaw 

 is likely to follow the operation, and it is seldom that a 

 horse so afflicted can recover. Many horses in being 

 docked, die of lockjaw.' 



Have you seen the late controversy about corns on 

 horses' feet. Count, and do you consider them curable ? 



' Certainly they can be cured, if great care be taken in 



shoeing, for it is the shoe which produces corns. The 



quarter-hoof should never have a nail in it, as it is in the 



corners where come the bars and the crust that the corn 



has its beginning. A careless blacksmith will cut the bars 



and open the frog, and thus open the hoof, into which dirt 



and mud enter and find an abiding-place. That part of the 



shoe which goes beyond the quarter-hoof does not even 



pretend to fit the foot sometimes, but curves downward, 



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