474 WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE 



a bucket of hot water for an hour or two, then immerse it in a 

 large warm bran poultice. If the foot can be poulticed with a 

 high-heeled shoe fastened on it, so much the better. 



Punctured wounds of the feet caused by the farrier driving the 

 nails too near or into the quick in shoeing, are not uncommon. 

 Tapping around the foot with a hammer, or pinching it with pin- 

 cers, will reveal the part where the injury has been inflicted. The 

 shoe must be taken off", the horn removed all round the puncture, 

 and the wound well opened out, to allow any matter that has formed 

 to escape. Then immerse the foot in hot water, and afterwards 

 poultice. 



Bleeding from the sole or frog, the result of wound, is easily 

 checked by pressure with tow, lint, or a handkerchief, maintained 

 against the wounded part by means of two pieces of hoop iron or 

 tough wood laid across each other between the shoe and the foot. 



Fractures. — It is a somewhat popular notion that broken bones 

 in animals, and especially those of the limbs, do not mend readily; 

 and it consequently happens that horses and other creatures are im- 

 mediately destroyed, when, in many cases, with proper care and 

 treatment, they might recover and be as valuable as ever. When 

 the bones of the head and jaws are fractured, unless there are grave 

 complications indeed, there is little danger, and a skillful veterinary 

 surgeon can in the great majority of cases make a complete cure, 

 provided he is present in good time. Until he arrives, little can be 

 done beyond keeping the animal quiet. If the lower jaw is broken, 

 it may be supported against the upper one and bones of the face by 

 a bandage, and stiff" pieces of leather or pasteboard placed length- 

 ways. Broken ribs are supported by a wide bandage round the 

 chest. Sometimes the tail is broken in horses and cattle, and in 

 this accident a leather or pasteboard splint, or a starch bandage 

 (made by soaking a bandage in ordinary domestic starch, and 

 wrapping it round the part while still moist), will suffice as a tem- 

 porary measure. It not unfrequently happens with the horse, that 

 in heavy falls the pelvis is fractured, so that when the animal rises 

 it drags or strikes the toe or toes of the hind feet to such an extent 

 that it cannot travel any distance ; the fetlocks double over, the 

 limbs give way, and repeated falls are the consequence. To get the 

 horse home to his stable, it is necessary to prevent this striking and 

 doubling of the limb or limbs, by passing a rope or band round the 

 pastern and pulling the foot forward in progression. If there is 

 intense lameness and inability to walk, the animal should cither be 

 allowed to remain at the nearest stable, or conveyed home in a bul- 

 lock wagon. 



Fractures of the limbs are serious, according to the nature of the 

 fracture and the bone fractured. Fractures are simple, compound, 



