ioo HUNTING. 



comes home. The dry flannel bandages mentioned above are 

 for horses that return to their stables with no symptoms of heat 

 about them. If the legs are hot, bandages should be put on 

 wetted with vinegar and water in equal parts. The value of 

 the cold water bandage is increased by the admixture of vinegar, 

 which has at once a cooling and hardening effect. 



Anything in the nature of a cut or over-reach should be 

 carefully looked for and promptly treated. The wound of an 

 over-reach may be made by the toe, or the inner edge of the 

 hind shoe, which latter is often very sharp, and the injury, a 

 combination of cut, tear, and bruise, will speedily produce 

 inflammatory symptoms if neglected. The wound should in the 

 first place be carefully washed out with warm water, and a lin- 

 seed poultice then applied. When it is healing a little tincture 

 of myrrh may be used. It must by no means be assumed, 

 however, that the above treatment is suitable for all wounds to 

 the legs, such as broken knees. For such cases, and in every 

 case where a joint is injured, threatened, or affected, poulticing 

 is the worst course that could possibly be followed, and almost 

 surely productive of serious evils. It is not our purpose to 

 write a book on veterinary science. Injuries to joints, or par- 

 ticularly deep wounds, are beyond the stableman's province. 

 Veterinary aid should be sought, and the owner should be 

 exceedingly careful whose services he employs. Not a few stable 

 practitioners are, or until lately were, accustomed to fall into the 

 very error against which we are now cautioning readers. They 

 poulticed and fomented injuries to a joint, the result being to 

 destroy its vitality and insure permanent weakness or lameness. 

 Modern treatment of such cases is purely antiseptic. The 

 nature of a hunter's work renders it very probable that he will 

 be occasionally punctured by thorns, such punctures being a 

 frequent cause of lameness and swellings. The extraction of 

 the thorn is of course the first thing to be done, and if it cannot 

 be found, though it is known to be there, veterinary aid should 

 be procured. If the thorn be in the forearm there may be 

 danger of its working to the knee. Blisters may be necessary ; 



