4'24 THRUSH. 



the discTiarge. The frog may not appear to be rcnderecT in the slightest 

 deo-ree tender loj it, and therefore the horse may not be considered by many 

 as unsound. Every disease, however, should be considered as legal un- 

 soundness, and especially a disease which, although not attended with 

 present detriment, must not be neglected, for it will eventually injure and 

 lame the horse. All other things being right, a horse should not be 

 rejected because he has a slight thrush, for if the shape of the hoof is not 

 altered, experience tells us that the thrush is easily removed ; but if this 

 is not soon done, the shape of the foot and the action of the horse will be 

 altered, and manifest unsoundness will result. A favourite hobby of the 

 late talented Professor Coleman was that pressure on the frog was the 

 only one thing needful to prevent contraction and thrush, and to such an 

 extent did he carry out this idea, that he took out a patent for a shoe to 

 cover the toe of the foot only, with a bar projecting back to cover the 

 frog and receive the weight of the animal : this proved to be an utter 

 fallacy, and was very soon abandoned. A clever modification of the same 

 idea has lately emanated from a very talented amateur holding an 

 important position, and this is, that a thin plate of wood or gutta percha 

 should be applied to the frog in the stable, one end, the narrow one, being 

 secured under the toe of the shoe, and the other, the broad one, tied round 

 the hock. This is certainly a much more possible and practicable propo- 

 sition than that of the late Professor. 



The progress of a neglected thrush, although sometimes slow, is sure. 

 The frog begins to contract in size — it becomes rough, ragged, brittle, 

 tender — the discharge is more copious and more offensive — the horn 

 gradually disappears — a mass of hardened mucus usurps its place — 

 this easily peals off, and the sensitive frog remains exposed ; the horse 

 cannot bear it to be touched — fungous gi-anulations spring from it — they 

 spread around — the sole becomes under- run, and canker steals over the 

 greater part of the foot. 



There are few errors more common or more dangerous than this, that 

 the existence of thrush is a matter of Httle consequence, or even, as some 

 suppose, a benefit to the horse — a discharge for superabundant humours 

 — and that it should not be di'ied up too quickly, and in some cases not 

 dried up at all. If a young colt, fat and fall of blood, has a bad thrush, 

 with much discharge, it will be prudent to accompany the attempt at 

 cure by a dose of physic or a course of diuretics. A few diuretics may 

 not be injurious when we are endeavouring to dry up thrush in older 

 horses ; but the disease can scarcely be attacked too soon, or subdued too 

 rapidly, and especially when it steals on so insidiously, and has such fatal 

 consequences in its train. K the heels once begin to contract throvigh the 

 baneful effects of thrush, it will, with difiiculty, or not at all, be afterwards 

 removed. 



There are many recipes to stop a running thrush. Almost every 

 apphcation of an astringent, but not of too caustic nature, will have the 

 effect ; the best for ordinary use will be found to be the siilphate of 

 zinc, or white vitriol and tar ointment. The zinc should be finely pow- 

 dered, and used in the proportion of a draclim to one ounce of the oint- 

 ment ; a small pledget of tow, moistened with this, should be Hghtly 

 introduced into the cleft of the frog every evening. The common 

 ^gyptiacum (vinegar boiled with honey and verdigrease) is a good lini- 

 ment ; but the most effectual and the safest — drying up the discharge 

 speedily, but not suddenly — is a paste composed of blue vitriol, tar, and 

 lard, in proportions according to the virulence of the thrush. 



A pledget of tow covered with it should be introduced as deeply as pos- 

 sible, yet without force, into the cleft of the frog every night, and removed 



