PUNCTURED WOUNDS OF THE FEET. 31' 



by nails, screws, broken glass, tacks^ etc., and according to 

 the depth and situation of the wound there are symptoms 

 presented of greater or less severity. If the joint be pene- 

 trated, or the bone interfered with, serious symptoms will 

 invariably be presented. On the other hand, a nail may 

 pass up by the side of the horny frog, through the fatty 

 frog, and very deeply into the foot, and no very well-marked 

 symptoms be exhibited or serious consequences follow. If 

 the navicular bursa be interfered with, or the tendon of 

 the flexor pedis perforans wounded, well-marked symptoms 

 will be exhibited, and serious results are to be appre- 

 hended. An injury to the navicular joint is one of the 

 most painful and serious injuries to which the foot is liable, 

 and when it does not terminate fatally it results in de- 

 struction of the joint. 



Symptoms.— It is by no means a very easy thing in all 

 cases to detect a nail in a horse's foot, hence a very close and 

 thorough examination should be made in all cases, or mis- 

 takes in diagnosis will be very liable to occur. If a punctured 

 wound occurs in the fore-foot in connection with the sensi- 

 tive structures, lameness suddenly becomes manifested. 

 When standing cjuietly the animal may be seen to nurse 

 the foot, elevate the heel, etc., and in a few hours increase 

 of heat can be detected around the coronet. These sj^mp- 

 toms should lead the practitioner to suspect the presence 

 of some foreign body in the foot, and by removing the shoe, 

 cleaning the horn, and paring it down well with the draw- 

 knife, the cause of the trouble may be discovered ; but 

 even after paring down the horn, etc., it is frequently a 

 matter of great difficulty to find the offending agent. In 

 many cases, especially in the case of a nail in a piece of 

 wood, the nail, having entered the foot and produced the 

 injury, is at once withdrawn, leaving no sign except the 

 opening it made, which, on account of its small size and 



