FIRST AID IN DISEASE AND LAMENESS 



drive spoiled, all from the mistaken idea that some- 

 thing serious was about to happen the animal, when 

 the fact is, the average horse will travel miles on 

 any kind of road or pavement without sustaining any 

 injury to the foot that cannot be repaired by two or 

 three hours' soaking in a tub of warm water, or a 

 flaxseed meal poultice. The wear, or breakage, is 

 seldom more than the smith will remove in the aver- 

 age foot. 



We have often removed the shoes during the win- 

 ter season, and used the animal daily over both coun- 

 try roads and city streets for a week, or even a fort- 

 night, without sustaining any injury to the feet. Of 

 course the amount of wear depends much upon the 

 character of the foot. We believe much benefit may 

 be obtained by this method, incipient disease of the 

 parts arrested, and in some cases a cure effected, espe- 

 cially in a case of incipient navicular disease. One 

 of the banes of the horse owner's life is in the fre- 

 quency of injury that horses receive from puncture 

 wounds of the feet, and from nails, and other pointed 

 instruments, along the route of the drive ; such cases 

 demand immediate attention. Many a valuable ani- 

 mal has been sacrificed to a neglect to apply early 

 treatment. The shoe should be removed at the earliest 

 possible moment, the parts liberally pared around 

 the point of injury, and a bold incision made of such 

 magnitude as to allow a free escape of pus, which is 

 almost sure to follow. If this is not sufficient, the 

 swelling is almost sure to close the orifice, causing a 

 retention of the pus, and often seriously complicat- 

 ing the case. We maintain that with a sufficient 

 opening lock-jaw need not be feared. A liberal flow 

 of blood often proves the means of forcing extraneous 

 matter from the wound, and thus becomes a cleansing 



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