528 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



with some material that will prevent evaporation. If good nursirig cannot 

 be ensured, and the poultices or compress properly attended to, it will be 

 better to trust to a stimulating hniment which will not allow the skin to 

 get cold, as in the invervals of poulticing by an indifferent attendant. 

 In large establishments where casualties must necessarily be expected, 

 the Fomenting Rug invented bj'^ ]Mr. Field, and manufactured by Mr. 

 C. H. Huish, will be found an invaluable appliance ; it will maintain a com- 

 fortable heat to the part required for five or six hours without requiring 

 attention. If in about ten days the animal is not making good progress a 

 charge may be spread over the loins, and a long rest enjoined. 



STRAIN OF THE SHOULDER 



Shoulder strain was formerly very often chosen as the seat of lameness 

 in the fore extremity, solely because the case is so obscure that it is beyond 

 the knowledge of the unskilful examiner. Many cases of navicular disease 

 and other lameness in the foot not clearly defined are often attributed to 

 the shoulder. Chronic lameness of the shoulder is comparatively rare, but 

 drop jumps in the hunting-field, and collisions with the stall post, or street 

 accidents cause temporary and often very acute lameness. 



The Symptoms are dragging the toe, and an inability to extend the 

 limb ; when compelled to move, the leg is moved in an outward direction 

 in the form of a half-circle. When the muscles are strained (serratus 

 magnus, pectoralis transversus, etc.) the animal may evince acute pain 

 when the limb is pulled up forcibly or drawn back. 



Treatment. — Rest, but not absolute inaction, is necessary, compulsory 

 gentle exercise for a few minutes night and morning at a walking pace 

 being found the best i-estorative. There is so much tendency to effusion 

 which must needs be again absorbed that the absolute rest formerly pre- 

 scribed for man and beast is not found to be desirable. Many a black- 

 smith (not in receipt of club pay) will recover a spi'ained wrist with a 

 leathern strap around it by continuing at his work in less time than if he 

 carried the arm in a sling. Warm fomentations relieve tension, and rubbing 

 with a saponaceous embrocation tends to give mobility to the parts rendered 

 stiff by the reparative process going on within. Tempel, Biittner, and other 

 Continental veterinary authorities, advocate the injection into the affected 

 parts of morphia and atropine, which is said to give immediate relief ; but 

 the curative effect must be due to the fact that the animal, freed from pain, 

 can be induced to take the necessary exercise above recommended. Unless 

 there is a known history of the cause the amateur should not trust himself 

 to diagnose shoulder lameness, since the great majority of lamenesses attributed 

 to that region prove to be in the foot. 



STRAINS OF THE KNEE 



The knee, unlike its analogue in the human subject (the wrist), is 

 seldom strained in the horse, in consequence of the strong ligaments which 

 bind the bones of the carpus together. Still it sometimes happens that 

 the internal lateral ligaments are overstretched, or, in calf-kneed horses, 



