129 

 *ross and palpable an error should be suffered to re- 

 main predominant, to the utter destruction of many 

 hundred horses annuallv. There is no circumstance 

 in the whole animal economy that I am more perfectly 

 convinced of, than that there never ^^ as a harmlessThrush 

 existins: in a horse's foot; for the moment a Thrush 

 attacks a foot, so certainly that foot begins to contract i 

 and there are several reasons why this must necessarily 

 be the case. In the first place, by its destroying tlie 

 frog, it destroys the very pad nature placed to keep 

 the heels apart ; and, in the next place, the heat that 

 necessarily accompanies the inflammation, always pre- 

 sent when there is a Thrush, naturally inclines the 

 horn inwards, and hence contracts the heels. The 

 tenderness likewise broudit on bv Thrushes gives 

 great pain to horses in travelling, and frequently brings 

 them to the ground on treading on shar}> stones. Sec. 

 Thrushes mav alwavs be considered as merely local, 

 and never constitutional, for they are never observed 

 in an unbroke colt who has remained at grass ; conse- 

 quently no harm can ever arise from stopping them ; but 

 harm always arises from sufiering them to remain ; 

 nor do they ever come on until a horse has been 

 stabled and suffered to remain on hot or w et litter, or 

 tliat his feet have began to contract ; for as Thrushes 

 are sometimes the cause of contracted feet, so in 

 other instances they are the consequence of contrac- 

 tion, which by making the heels press on the frog in- 

 flames it, and hence it takes on the secretion of pus 

 instead of horn. Everv Thrush, therefore, should be 

 inmiediately stopped : any drying astringent substance 

 applied will dry up the oozing of matter ; but there 

 are few substances that will heal the foot from th^ijot- 



