Thorn. 91 



a rail in the hunting-field. If there is any doubt 

 about a swelling being caused by a blow or a 

 thorn, the leg should be examined minutely. 

 The best way to do this is to take a knife and 

 draw the blade slowly up against the hair and 

 examine the skin as you proceed. If you find a 

 puncture only as large as the eye of a needle, 

 probe the wound to see if any thorn is there ; if 

 you cannot find one, rub into the hole a small 

 quantity of Gregory's vesico sudorific ; this will 

 keep the wound open and set up a discharge, and 

 if a thorn is there it will draw it out ; if there is 

 no thorn it will act as a counter-irritant and pre- 

 vent suppuration. Sometimes a thorn can be 

 seen, yet it is so deep that it cannot be taken 

 hold of even with a pair of forceps ; to take a 

 thorn out under these circumstances, you must 

 put a small key over the thorn and press tightly 

 so as to force the thorn up the pipe of the key 

 and enable you to lay hold of it with the forceps. 



STUB. 



Another thing of the thorn class, only worse, 

 is a stub. This is met with by the horse putting 

 its foot upon newly-cut brushwood, in going 

 through gaps in hedgerows, or through newly - 

 cut w^oods. Sometimes they inflict wounds that 

 are very deep, often going through the sole of 

 the foot and lamella to the coffin bone. Many 

 valuable horses have died of tetanus or lockjaw, 

 from the efi'ect of a wound of this class. As soon 

 as the groom finds a stub in the horse's foot, he 

 should have its shoe taken off, and the hoof round 



