SPRAIN OF THE BACK-SINEWS. 247 



the part, and no means are so likely as these to effect that purpose. Eveiy 

 stimulating application will infallibly a2C2:ravate the mischief. 



The horse beg'iunino; to put his foot better to the ground, and to bear 

 pressure on the part, and the heat having disappeared, the object to be 

 accomplished is changed ; recurrence of the inflammation must be pre- 

 vented, the enlargement must be got rid of, and the parts must be 

 strengthened. The two latter purposes cannot be better effected than 

 by usTng an elastic bandage — one of thin flannel will be the best. This will 

 sustain and support the limb, while by few means are the absorbents sooner 

 induced to take up the effused coagulable matter of which the swelling is 

 composed, than by moderate pressure. If the bandage be kept wet 

 with vinegar, to each pint of which a quarter of a pint of spirit of wine 

 has been added, the skin will be slightly stimulated and contracted, and 

 the cold produced by the constant evaporation will tend to subdue the 

 remaining and deep-seated inflammation. This bandage should be daily 

 tightened in proportion as the parts are capable of bearing increased pres- 

 sure, and the treatment should be persisted in for a fortnight : if, at the 

 expiration of that period, there be no swelling, tenderness, or heat, the 

 horse may gradually, and very cautiously, be put to his usual work. 



Should there, however, remain the slightest lameness or considerable 

 enlargement, the leg must be blistered ; and, indeed, it would seldom be 

 bad practice to blister after a case of severe sprain ; for^the inflam- 

 mation lies deep in the sheath of the tendons, and the part once sprained 

 long remains weak, and subject to renewed injury, not only from unusual, 

 but even ordinary exertion. If the blister be resorted to, time should be 

 given for it to produce its gradual and full effect, and the horse should be 

 turned out for one or two months ; and here we must be permitted to 

 repeat, that a blister should never be used while any heat or tenderness 

 remains about the part, otherwise the slightest injury may be, and often is, 

 converted into incurable lameness. 



Very severe sprains, but much oftener sprains badly treated, may re- 

 quire the application of the cautery. If from long-continued inflamma- 

 tion the structure of the part is materially altered, if the swelling is be-^ 

 coming callous, or the skin is thickened and prevents the free motion of 

 the limb, no stimulus short of the heated iron will be sufficient to rouse the 

 absorbents to remove the injurious deposit. The principal use of firmg 

 is to rouse the absorbents to such increased action that they shall take up 

 and remove the diseased thickness of the skin, and likewise the unnatural 

 deposit in the cellular substance beneath. The firing should be applied^ 

 in straight lines, because the skin, contracting by the apphcation oi 

 the cautery, and gradually regaining its elastic nature, will thus form 

 the best bandage over the weakened part. Here, even more particularly 

 than in the blister, time should be given for the full action of the firing. 

 This removal of diseased matter is a work of slow progress. Many weeks 

 pass away before it is perfectly accomplished ; and, after firing, the horse 

 should have at least a six months', and it would be better if he could be 

 given a twelve months' run at grass. When the animal has been set to 

 work in a few weeks, and the enlargement remains, or lameness returns, 

 the fault is to be attributed to the impatience of the owner, and net to the 

 want of power in the operation, or skill in the operator. 



Farriers are apt to blister immediately after firhig. A blister may be 

 useful six weeks or two months after firing, if lameness remains; but can 

 never be wanted immediately after the severe operation of the cautery. It 

 the iron has been skilfully applied, subsequent blistering inflicts on the 



