196 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



is but one way of exterminating them, and that is by burn 

 ing the enlargement to a crisp with a red-hot iron. Thib 

 will be likely to dry up the water in them, and seal the 

 fountains which supply it, and sometimes proves an effectual 

 cure. 



The old farriers always pursued this course ; but it is at- 

 tended with great danger. The burning often induces an 

 inflammation that eventually ruins the horse, especially when 

 the swelling is near the joint. "When inflammation from this 

 cause is once fairly established, it generally terminates in an 

 incurable ulcer. The morbid secretions and the disorganiza- 

 tion of the tissues, which characterize this condition, no 

 remedy seems sufficiently powerful to correct. Kor is this 

 the only danger attending the operation of burning. When 

 the hot iron is applied to bunches on or near the joint, the 

 inflammation, which nearly always follows, is apt to prove of 

 unusual severity, and the joint will become so badly stiffened 

 that its use will be destroyed forever afterward. We can 

 not advise this mode of treatment. Its extreme cruelty, 

 coupled with the risk of ruining the horse for life, is more 

 than sufficient to condemn it entirely. 



Some ignorant persons have tapped wind-galls " to let out 

 the wind," and have been very much surprised to find a 

 somewhat thick, yellowish fluid, exuding from the puncture, 

 instead of air, and, to their still greater amazement, have 

 found that they have opened a fountain which they were 

 powerless to Close. ^NTor were these all their troubles. Sore- 

 ness and inflammation have set in, and grown worse from 

 day to day, and week to week. Very often they have learned, 

 when too late, that they unwittingly ruined a valuable horse. 

 In many instances, a large, ulcerous sore remains, which the 

 practitioner's utmost skill can not heal over. 



The only remedy that we can recommend is the corrosive 

 liniment, applied once a day for four or five days, and then 

 omitted for the same length of time, and so continued to 

 be used as long as necessary. The liniment should be well 

 shaken before using, then appliied with a little mop, and well 



