PUNXTURED WOUNDS OF THE FEET. 319 



seek an outlet of its own, and after burrowing in various 

 directions, and causing considerable suffering to the animal, 

 will most probably escape at the coronet and cause quittor. 

 The practitioner, during the search for the offending agent, 

 should be careful not to wound the healthy vascular struc- 

 tures, as the resulting hiemorrhage will obscure and 

 seriously interfere with his operations. Fomentations will 

 be found valuable to cleanse and soften the parts, allay 

 pain, etc. Poultices may be applied after the fomentations, 

 at the discretion of the practitioner. Any constitutional 

 symptoms that may arise are to be combated in the usual 

 way by the administration of cathartics, diuretics, febri- 

 fuges, sedatives, etc., as are indicated, and the use of 

 fomentations, anodyne applications, poultices, etc., locally, 

 to allay irritation. The portion of frog or sole that it has 

 been necessary to remove will very quickly be reproduced, 

 and in cases that recover the animal is usually ready to go 

 to work in a few days. If fungoid growths spring up, they 

 are to be treated in the usual way by caustics, the hot iron, 

 etc. Sometimes the sole becomes under-run, and pus forms 

 at the base of the frog. In such a case allow the pus to 

 escape, and remove all useless or semi-detached pieces of 

 horn, etc., keep clean by an occasional bath of tepid water, 

 and use astringent lotions, carbolic acid lotion, and, if con- 

 ' sidered necessary, an occasional poultice. 



PRICKING. 



Pricking a horse when shoeing him consists of driving 

 the nail into the sensitive structures instead of through 

 the insensitive horny wall of the hoof. A nail may split, 

 and one portion go in the right direction and the other 

 portion be forced into the sensitive structures. Hence 

 pricking is in many cases purely accidental and unavoid- 

 able, and may occur with even the most careful shoer. 



