220 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[chap. XVIII 



feet. Horse bears most weight on his heels. 

 Great pain. Temperature high. Pulse quick, 

 full, and hard. Respiration increased, like con- 

 gestion of lungs, for which it is often mistaken. 

 Horse unwilling to move. 



Treatment. — Give a pint of linseed oil, and 

 warm water and soap enema. On no account 

 give a strong purgative. Apply pressure band- 

 ages below the knee or hock. Remove shoes 

 carefully, and pare walls to allow as much 

 weight as possible on the frog ; do not touch 

 frog. Give gentle exercise a few times a day, if 

 horse will move ; otherwise, leave him alone. 

 Feed on laxative diet, grass, etc., and make horse 

 lie down, if he will. 



When not lying down, stand him in cold 

 water, and on no account poultice foot or stand 

 in hot water, as this will draw more blood to 

 the already inflamed tissues. Pass catheter, as 

 horse may withhold urine. If colicky pains, give 

 cannabis indica F.E. 1 dr. 



Broad web shoes, with leather or rubber pads 

 next to the foot, should be used for a few weeks, 

 and the web should be thin at toe and heels to 

 form a rocker-shaped shoe, which will ease the 

 horse. 



Prevention. — Exercise horses on board ship or 

 on a long train journey, and sling them occa- 

 sionally, if they will not lie down, to relieve 

 weight on feet. After much standing, as on 

 board ship, put horse into loose box for a week. 

 A few miles' walking after two or three weeks 

 on board ship may bring on laminitis. 



Laminitis is not uncommon after parturition. 

 After a foal is born, if the after-birth (placenta) 

 does not come away clean from the mare in three 

 or four hours, it must be removed very carefully 

 with the hand, the hand and arm being made 

 thoroughly aseptic with lysol solution and in- 

 serted right into the womb (uterus). The womb 



must then be syringed out with corrosive subli- 

 mate (1 to 2,000), followed immediately by a 

 thorough flushing with normal saline solution. 

 This changes the poisonous mercury perchloride 

 (corrosive sublimate) into mercury subchloride 

 (calomel), which will do no harm, but will 

 act as a slight laxative. Laminitis is very 

 liable to occur again. On no account must a 

 strong solution of the mercury be used in this 

 case. 



874. Chronic Laminitis. 



Cause. — Due to repeated attacks of acute 

 laminitis (founder), when the union between the 

 sensitive laminae and the horny wall becomes 

 partially destroyed. If this is very bad the toe 

 of the pedal bone (os pedis) may touch the sole, 

 a condition which is known as pumice. 



Symptoms. — Horse is lame and tries to bear 

 all weight on the heels and keeps feet as much 

 as possible to the front (the opposite to navicular 

 disease). When moving, horse will take short 

 steps. The slope of the wall at the toe is con- 

 cave instead of straight. The wall of the toe 

 near the ground will be thick ; sole, flat ; horn, 

 brittle and weak ; frog, healthy and large, due 

 to increased work on it. Work increases the 

 lameness (opposite to navicular disease). There 

 will generally be the regular rings of horn pro- 

 jecting around the outside of the wall. Dishonest 

 horse dealers rasp these rings away. 



Treatment. — Obtain frog pressure. Lower 

 wall at heels to bring more weight on to the 

 heels. Use rubber or leather between shoe and 

 foot. Shoe must not touch sole. Heels of shoe 

 must be thinner and broader. Blister coronet 

 with mild cantharides ointment (1 to 24 lard) ; 

 feed on laxative food, and give gentle work on 

 soft ground, on no account on hard. Give good 

 soft bedding, and, if heat in feet after work, 

 stand for two hours in cold water. 



