WOUNDS 231 



Although ordinarily inflicted at the gallop, the same 

 injury may, nevertheless, be caused by allowing a fast 

 trotter, and one with extreme freedom of action behind, to 

 push forward at the utmost limit of his pace. The outside 

 heel is the one most subject to the injury. 



While the common form of injury to the coronet is, as 

 we have described, that occasioned by the animal's own 

 shoe, or that of a companion, it is evident that the foot is 

 also open to similar injuries from quite outside sources. 

 Palls of the shafts when unyoking animals from a heavy 

 cart, blows or wounds from the stable fork, wounds result- 

 ing from the foot becoming fixed in a gate or a fence, either 

 may equally well set up the mischief. 



Apart from severe injury, a particularly troublesome 

 form of coronitis may arise from the condition of the 

 roads. We refer to the conditions attendant on a thaw 

 after snow. The animal is called upon to labour in, or per- 

 haps stand for long periods in, a mixture of snow and 

 water, or snow and mud. That this must have a preju- 

 dicial effect upon the structure of the coronet is plain. The 

 circulation of the part, already predisposed to sluggishness 

 by reason of its distance from the heart, is further impeded 

 by the action of the cold. Small abrasions of the skin, so 

 small as to scarce be noticeable, are in this case freely open 

 to infection with the septic matter the mud contains. 

 Necrosis and consequent sloughing of the skin is bound to 

 follow, and an extensive ulcerous wound, or a spreading 

 suppuration of the coronary cushion is the result. 



Syjtiptotns. — We will take first the case in which no 

 actual wound is observable. Here the first indication of 

 the trouble is the appearance of an inflammatory swelling, 

 confined usually to one side, but extending sometimes to 

 the whole of the coronet. Always the part is hot and 

 tender, and with it the patient is lame — so much so, in 

 many cases, as to be unable to put the foot to the ground, 

 the toe alone being used. 



In a mild case, uncomplicated by septic infection, these 

 symptoms rapidly subside, and resolution occurs. 



