y78 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



swelling of the parts at the point of injuiy, will enable un3'one to make 

 a diagnosis. 



Treatment. — Sprain of the suspcnsorj' ligament, no matter how mild 

 it may be, should always be treated by enforced rest of at least a 

 month, and the application of cold douches and cold-water bandages, 

 firmly applied until the fever has subsided, when a cantharides blister 

 should be put on and repeated in two or three weeks if necessar3\ 

 When rupture has taken place, the patient should be put in slings, and 

 a constant stream of cold water allowed to trickle over the seat of 

 injury until the fever is reduced. In the course of a week or ten days 

 a plaster of Paris splint, such as is used in fractures, is to be applied 

 and left on for a month or six weeks. When this is taken off blisters 

 may be used to remove the remaining soreness; but it is useless to 

 expect a removal of all the thickening; for, in the process of repair, 

 new tissue has been formed which will always remain. 



. In old cases of sprain the firing-iron may often be used with good 

 results. As a rule, severe injuries to the suspensorj- ligament inca- 

 pacitate the subject for anything but slow, light work. 



OVERREACH. 



An overreach is where the shoe of the hind foot strikes and injures 

 the heel or quarter of the fore foot. It rareh" happens except when 

 the animal is going fast, hence is most common in trotting and running 

 horses. In trotters the accident gcnerall}" happens when the animal 

 Ijreaks from a trot to a run. The outside heels and quarters are most 

 liable to the injury. 



Symjytoms. — The coronet at the heel or quarter is bruised or cut, the 

 injurj^ in some instances involving the horn as well. Where the hind 

 foot strikes well back on the heel of the fore foot — an accident known 

 among horsemen as "grabbing" — the shoe may be torn from the fore 

 foot or the animal may fall to its knees. Horses accustomed to over- 

 reaching are often "bad breakers," for the reason that the pain of the 

 injury so excites them that they can not readih' be brought back to the 

 ti'otting gait. 



Treatment. — If the injury is but a slight bruise cold-water bandages 

 applied for a few daxys will remove all of the soreness. If the parts 

 are deeply cut, more or less suppuration will follow, and, as a rule, it 

 is well to poultice the parts for a day or two, after which cold baths 

 may be used, or the wounds dressed with tincture of aloes, oakum, 

 and a roller bandage. 



When an animal is known to be subject to overreaching he should 

 never be driven fast without quarter boots, which are specially made 

 for the protection of the heels and quarters. 



If there is a disposition to "grab" the forward shoes, tlie trouble 

 may be remedied by having the heels of these shoes made as short as 



