420 PRICK, OR WOUXD IX THE SOLE OR CRUST. 



Wlien the shoe is removed for tliis examination, the smith should never 

 be permitted to wrench it off, but each nail should be dra-vvn separately, 

 and examined as it is drawn, when some moisture appearing upon it will 

 not luifrequently reveal the spot at which matter has been thro^vn out. 



Sudden lameness occui-ring withia a few days after the horse has been 

 shod, will lead to the suspicion that the smith has been in fault; yet no 

 one who considers the thinness of the crust, and the difficulty of shoeing 

 many feet, will blame him for sometimes pricking the animal. His fault 

 will consist in concealing or denying that of which he will almost always 

 be aware at the time of shoeing, from the flinching of the horse, or the 

 dead sound, or the peculiar resistance that may be noticed in the driving 

 of the nail. We would plead the cause of the honest portion of an humble 

 class of men, who discharge this mechanical part of their business 

 with a skill and good fortune scarcely credible ; but we resign those to 

 the reproaches and the punishment of the owner of the horse, who too 

 often, and with bad policy, deny that which accident, or possibly momentary 

 carelessness, might have occasioned, and the neglect of which is fraught 

 with danger, although the mischief resulting from it, might at the time 

 have been easily remedied. 



Wlien the seat of mischief is ascertained, the sole should be thinned 

 round it, and at the nail-hole, or the puncture, it should be pared to the 

 quick. The escape of some matter will now probably tell the nature of 

 the injury, and remove its consequences. If it be puncture of the sole 

 effected by some nail, or any similar body, picked up on the road, all that 

 will be necessary is a little to enlarge the opening, and then to place on it 

 a pledget of tow dipped in Friar's balsam, and over that a little common 

 stopping. If 'there is much heat and lameness, a poultice should be 

 applied. 



The part of the sole that is wounded and the depth of the wound should 

 be taken into consideration. A deep puncture towards the back part of 

 the sole, and penetrating even into the sensitive frog, may not be pro- 

 ductive of serious consequence. There is no great motion in the part, 

 and there are no tendons or bones in danger. A puncture near the toe 

 may not be followed by much injury. There is little motion in that part 

 of the foot, and the internal sole covering the coffin-bone will soon heal. 

 A puncture, however, about the centre of the sole may wound the flexor 

 tendon where it is inserted into the coffin-bone, or may even penetrate the 

 joint which unites the navicular bone with the coffin-bone, or pierce 

 through the tendon into the joint which it forms with the na^-icular bone, 

 and a degree of inflammation may ensue, that, if neglected, may be fatal. 

 Many horses have been lost by the smallest puncture of the sole in these 

 dangerous points. All the anatomical skill of the veterinarian should be 

 called into requisition, when he is examining the most trifling wound of 

 the foot. 



If the foot has been wounded by the wrong direction of a nail in shoe- 

 ing, and the sole is well pared out over the part on the first appearance of 

 lameness, little more will be necessary to be done. The opening should 

 be somewhat enlarged, the Friar's balsam applied, and the shoe tacked on, 

 with or without a poultice, according to the degree of lameness or heat, 

 and on the follomng day all will often be well. It may, however, be 

 prudent to keep the foot stopped for a few days. If the accident has been 

 neglected, and matter begins to be formed, and to be pent up and to press 

 on the neighbouring parts, and the horse evidently suffers extreme pain, 

 and is sometimes scarcely able to put his foot to the ground, and much 

 matter is poured out when the opening is enlarged, further precautions 

 must be adopted. The fact must be recollected that the living and dead 



