610 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



PRICKED FOOT 



Because a horse is pricked in shoeing it must not be too hastily assumed 

 that the farrier is to blame, since the most careful and skilful practitioners 

 of the art cannot avoid once in a way driving a nail awiy. The nail may 

 " sliver " if a hand-made one, or be turned aside by an old " stub " which 

 could not be seen or felt. A restive horse may plunge at the moment of 

 striking, indeed one might find a gi-eat many excellent excuses for an 

 accident which is not after all so common as it is represented to be when 

 the number of nails driven in a given time is considered. The unpardon- 

 able sin in the smithy is trying to cover up the accident, when a poultice 

 for one night might have prevented the most disastrous consequences which 

 a prick will sometimes bring about. The smith does not always know himself, 

 if he has " put on the shoe too tight," as he calls it, for the horse may have 

 a habit of snatching his foot while in the lap of the farrier, and the moment 

 in which he flinched may not have been decisive. He may go sound for a 

 day or two, or even a week, before the pressure of a nail which does not 

 actually prick, but presses on the sensitive part, causes him to go lame. 



Symptoms. — Lameness, at first slight, and perhaps decreasing with exer- 

 cise, but returning when rested. Pointing the foot in the stable. More 

 heat at one part of the foot than another when carefully felt and compared. 

 Absence of other causes of lameness. 



Treatment. — There is a veterinary tradition to the efiect that " you 

 should have the shoe off if the horse is lame in the head," and it is no bad 

 rule to insist upon, so often is a lameness ascertained to be in the foot after 

 the shoulder and other parts of the limb have been treated without benefit. 

 Each nail should be examined for blood-stains or matter, the height of each 

 clench upon the crust carefully noted, the marks of drawn nails upon the 

 plantar surface examined and probed. The foot pinched round to see if it 

 is more susceptible to pressure in one place than another, and if it should 

 prove to be tender opposite a nail that was driven too high, or where a 

 drawn nail has left its mark, the place should be cut down upon, and the 

 direction ascertained. A farrier who neither pritchelled the holes in the 

 shoe nor put it on will be more expert in finding a prick than the man who 

 did it, as a rule, but an honest effort may fail to discover it at first, and 

 with the removal of the pressure of the shoe and a few poultices the 

 lameness may pass away. If it does not do so matter will fonii at the 

 seat of injury, and the lameness be very acute. Further search must be 

 made, and will end in liberating a drop of green sappy fluid which has 

 been responsible for such intense pain, owing to its confined situation, where 

 no swelling can relieve it. The orifice should be enlarged to permit of free 

 drainage, and poulticed till no matter can be found, when a little astringent 

 application, as tincture of iron or Friar's balsam, may be applied to prevent 

 a soft spongy granulation rising above the level of the wound. Neglected 

 pricks run on till the matter, now consisting of pus, and finding no exit, 

 seeks the least line of resistance, coming through at the coronet. This is 

 also the case with festered corns or any injury which causes suppuration 

 within the horny box. A dependent orifice should be obtained and 

 poulticing assiduously practised, or quittor may result. 



