S44 WOUNDS IN THE FEET FROM NAIL^, &C. 



After the wound has been dressed with the afore- 

 said mixture, melt a proper quantity of this slop- 

 ping in an iron ladle, tlien dip it in small pledgets 

 of tov/, and apply them over the dressings, fasten 

 dry hurds over the whole, and secure the dressing by 

 putting a couple of splints across to fasten them. 

 By strict attention to the application of the above 

 remedies, a cure may be performed in all wounds 

 of the feet, proceeding from pricks in shoeing, or 

 from gravel, stubs, thorns, nails, &cc. Should this 

 method of treatment prove uusuccessful, and the 

 horse still continue lame, the wound must be im- 

 mediately laid open to the bottom with a proper 

 drawing-knife, and the matter discharged, which 

 in general is thin, bloody, and offensive. If any 

 nail should penetrate the joint of the foot, so as to 

 endanger the cartilage that surrounds the joint, 

 and cause a discharge of synovia, or joint-oil, it 

 will prove extremely difficult to cure. In cases of 

 this kind no time should be lost, the horse must 

 be treated in the same manner as directed in 

 Chapter XXXIV. p. 166, on humours oozing 

 from the joints. 



It may not be irrelevant here to notice a bad 

 practice very prevalent among country farriers in^ 

 their management of those horses whose feet are 

 lame. After the foot has been pared quite thin, 



