WIND-GALLS. 271 



be permitted to repeat that a blister should never be used while any heat or tender- 

 ness remains about the part, otherwise the slightest injury may be, and often is, con- 

 verted into incurable lameness. 



Very severe sprains, or much oftener, sprains badly treated, may require ihe appli- 

 cation of the cautery. If from long-continued inflammation the structure of the part 

 is materially altered — if the swelling is becoming callous, or the skin is thickened 

 and prevents the free motion of the limb, no stimulus short of the heated iron will be 

 sufficient to rouse the absorbents to remove the injurious deposit. The principal use 

 of firing is to rouse the absorbents to such increased action that they shall take up 

 and remove the diseased thickness of the skin, and likewise the unnatural deposit in 

 the cellular substance beneath. The firing should be applied in straight lines, 

 because the skin, contracting by the application of the cautery, and gradually regain- 

 ing its elastic nature, will thus form the best bandage over the weakened part. Ii 

 should likewise be as deep as it can be applied without penetrating the skin. Here, 

 even more particularly than in the blister, time should be given for the full action of 

 the firing. This removal of diseased matter is a work of slow progress. Many 

 weeks pass away before it is perfectly accomplished ; and, after firing, the horse 

 should have at least a six months', and it would be better if he could be given a 

 twelve months' run at grass. When the animal has been set to work in a few weeks, 

 and the enlargement remains, or lameness returns, the fault is to be attributed to the 

 impatience of the owner, and not to the want of power in the operation or skill in the 

 operator. 



Farriers are apt to blister immediately after firing. A blister may be useful six 

 W(!eks or two months after firing, if lameness remains ; but can never be wanted 

 immediately after the severe operation of the cautery. If the iron has been skilfully 

 applied, subsequent blistering inflicts on the animal, already sufficiently torturfed, 

 much unnecessary and useless pain, and should never be resorted to by him who 

 possesses the slightest feeling of humanity. 



In examining a horse for purchase, the closest attention should be paid to the 

 appearance of these flexor tendons. If there is any thickness of cellular substance 

 around them, that horse has been sprained violently, or the sprain has not been pro- 

 perly treated. This thickening will probably fetter the motion of the tendon, and 

 dispose the part to the recurrence of inflammation and lameness. Such a horse, 

 although at the time perfectly free from lameness, should be regarded with suspicion, 

 and cannot fairly be considered as soimd. He is only patched up for a while, and 

 will probably fail at the close of the first day's hard work. 



WIND-GALLS. 



In the neighbourhood of the fetlock there are occasionally found considerable 

 enlargements, oftener on the hind-leg than the fore-one, which are denominated, 

 wind-gal/s (e, p. 277). Between the tendons and other parts, and wherever the ten- 

 dons are exposed to pressure or friction, and particularly about their extremities, little 

 bags or sacs are placed, containing and sutfering to ooze slowly from them a mucous 

 fluid to lubricate the parts. From undue pressure, and that most frequently caused 

 by violent action and straining of the tendons, or, often, from some predisposition 

 about the horse, these little sacs are injured. They take on inflammation, and some- 

 times become large and indurated. There are few horses perfectly free from them. 

 When they first appear, and until the inflammation subsides, they may be accompa- 

 nied by some degree of lameness; but otherwise, except when they attain a great 

 size, they do not interfere with the action of the animal, or cause any considerable 

 unsoundness. The farriers used to suppose that they contained wind — hence their 

 name, wind-galls; and hence the practice of opening them, by which dreadful inflam- 

 mation was often produced, and many a valuable horse destroyed. It is not uncom- 

 mon for wind-galls entirely to disappear in aged horses. 



A slight wind-gall will scarcely be subjected to treatment; but if these tumours 

 are numerous and large, and seem to impede the motion of the limb, they may he 

 attacked first by bandage. The roller should be of flannel, and soft pads should be 

 placed on each of the enlargements, and bound down tisfhtly upon them. The band- 

 age should also be wetted with the lotion recommended for sprain of the back-sinews. 

 The wind-gall will often diminish or disappear by this treatment, but will too fre- 



