PRICKS OR STABS IN SHOEING. 



1051 



with dressing-forceps or removed with the curette, after which the 

 parts are treated as described. 



I.— PRICKS OR STABS IN SHOEING. 



The sensitive portions of the foot are sometimes injured during 

 shoeing by misdirected nails, with consequences of a very varying 

 character. The chief factor appears to be infection, though the 

 degree of injury plays no inconsiderable role in determining the result. 

 When the nail only penetrates the neighbourhood of the rete mucosum, 

 or injures this alone, a superficial inflammation results, with the 

 above-described consequences. But if, instead, portions of the 

 cuticular structures containing connective tissue are affected, the 

 usual, though not invariable, 

 result is an attack of parenchy- 

 matous inflammation. The attack 

 may often be avoided by immedi- 

 ately withdrawing the nail and 

 closing its track by tar, wax, or 

 by burning the horn, thus pre- 

 venting infection of the wound ; 

 a proof that it is not the injury, 

 but the infection it facilitates, 

 which causes inflammation. A 

 second nail should not be driven 

 at the same spot, as it would 

 again open the path for infection. 



The os pedis is occasionally 

 injured by driven nails, though necrosis resulting from inflammation 

 should not be mistaken for fracture produced by a nail. 



The course of these injuries varies greatly. Superficial injuries 

 sometimes heal, without proceeding to suppuration, in six to eight 

 days under local treatment and rest. Pododermatitis superficialis 

 produced by pricks is generally followed by suppuration ; infection 

 extends, and the pus, if not furnished with an outlet, breaks through 

 at the coronet at a point corresponding in position with the misdirected 

 nail. Although in such cases spontaneous recovery is usual, it saves 

 time, and the possibility of complications, if an exit for pus be provided 

 at some point in the white line. 



As pricks and stabs only occur in those portions of the sensitive 

 structures which lie immediately in contact with the os pedis, and are 

 unprovided with subcutis, purulent cellulitis is a comparatively rare 



Fig. 562. — Cross section of a sound and 

 well-shod hoof, showing the proper 

 position of the nails, a. Pedal bone ; 

 b, sensitive sole ; c, horny sole ; d, horn 

 wall ; e, dark-coloured outer layer of 

 do. ; /. lamina] sheath ; g, nails. 



