INFLAMED AND FISTULOUS WITHERS. 



We must now speak of inflamed and fistulous withers. Excepting in 

 position, this condition is closely allied to poll-evil. Its nature and 

 causation are similar to those just considered. Bruises, inflicted by ill-fitting 

 saddles, are generally answerable for the production of these conditions of 

 the withers. It will readily be understood that an animal with highly-elevated 

 withers, will be especially liable to injury from this cause. The principles 

 of treatment of these conditions are similar to those already described in 

 speaking of poll-evil. In slight cases of bruised and inflamed withers, the 

 application of cooling lotions, and the administration of a dose of aloes, will 

 generally suffice. The diet should be of a laxative nature. When matter 

 is formed, it is necessary to open the abscess freely, at its lowest part, as 

 early as possible, so as to prevent it burrowing among the tissues. Warm 

 water fomentations, and the application of poultices of bran or other 

 material, are then necessary. 



There is, as a rule, no difficulty in perceiving when the inflammation 

 has resulted in the formation of an abscess. The soft fluctuating feeling of 

 the imprisoned matter, and the falling of the hair from the most prominent 

 part of the swelling, indicate the formation of matter. When, as sometimes 

 happens in poll-evil, the case assumes a chronic form, as the result of the 

 burrowing of matter, or from portions of bone decaying, and thus causing 

 irritation, the diseased channels must be freely opened and treated as in poll- 

 evil. The application of a smart blister around the diseased part is sometimes 

 valuable in such cases in promoting healing. 



OPEN JOINTS. 



One of the gravest forms of injury to which the horse is liable, is the 

 opening of an important joint. The joints most commonly thus seriously 

 injured, by a kick or a fall, are the hock and knee. These injuries are 

 followed by very marked constitutional disturbance, manifested by high 

 fever, and there is, in most cases, great emaciation, resulting from the con- 

 tinual escape of synovial fluid from the joint. Such a discharge of fluid is 

 usually an early symptom, and indicates the serious nature of the injury 

 sustained. Sometimes, we should point out, the oil may ooze from the 

 wound of a joint, even when the latter is not opened. This occurrence is 

 then to be attributed to the fact that the synovial covering of the bones 

 entering into the formation of the joint is in an inflamed condition. The 

 serous discharge from an open joint, at first thin and pellucid, soon becomes 

 thicker, yellowish, and purulent. The joint swells more as the inflammatory 

 action becomes more established, and will be observed to be very painful 

 and tender. The febrile symptoms, in unfavourable cases, show no signs of 

 abatement, the pain continues to be very severe, the appetite is wholly or 

 partially lost, and the poor animal sinks, as the result of the constitutional 



In those instances where the 



