INJURIES AND DISEASES OF THE FEET. 218 



Treatment. — Laminitis is a very serious condition when 

 acute, and may lead not only to serious deformity of the lioof, 

 or its being shed, but even death may result. In congestion, 

 or the less acute form of inflammation, the consequences are 

 not so serious. In the latter it may suffice to take oflT the 

 shoes, lower the wall of the feet by means of the rasp, so as to 

 allow the sole and frog to bear as much of the weight as 

 possible, and keep them in a tub of warm or cold water for 

 some time, and poultice for a few days. It is a good plan to 

 induce the horse to lie down, or even to throw him down if he 

 will not do so voluntarily. 



The floor of the stall or box should be laid with soft bed- 

 ding or moss litter. Gentle exercise on soft ground should be 

 allowed, as soon as the pain subsides. The diet should be 

 sloppy mashes or gruel, and a mild laxative, such as a pint of 

 linseed-oil, may be necessary. In an acute case, the same 

 treatment has to be followed out, with the addition of an 

 ounce or two of the bicarbonate of soda, two or three times a 

 day, in the food ; with scarification of the coronets with the 

 lancet, and the administration of from ten to twenty drops of 

 Fleming's tincture of aconite in a pint of water two or three 

 times, at intervals of four hours. Care is required in working 

 and shoeing the horse for some time after recovery, the soles 

 being kept unpared, and the frogs allowed to come in con- 

 tact with the ground. 



When the inflammation becomes chronic — a very common 

 sequel — the horse's action is more or less altered, the heels 

 coming to the ground in a conspicuous manner, and in the 

 stable the animal has a tendency to rest on the heels. The 

 feet are also generally hotter than in a healthy condition, 

 especially after movement, and they become more or less 

 altered in shape, the soles becoming flatter, the heels deeper, 

 and the front of the wall losing its straight oblique line ; there 

 are also characteristic rings, narrow and deep in front, wider 



