400 



than these may be when involving tlie more important organs con- 

 tained within the hoof. A nail is the most common instrument by 

 which the injury is inflicted, yet wounds maj^ happen from sharp 

 pieces of rock, glass, wire, knives, etc. 



A wound of the foot is more serious when made bj- a blunt-pointed 

 instrument than when the point is sharp, and the nearer the injury 

 is to the center of the foot the more likely are disastrous results to 

 follow. Wounds in the heel and in the i^osterior parts of the frog are 

 attended with but little danger, unless they are so deep as to injure 

 the lateral cartilages, when cjuittor may follow. Punctured wounds 

 of the anterior parts of the sole are more dangerous for the reason 

 tliat the coffin bone may be injured and the suppuration, even where 

 the wound is not deep, tends to spread and always gives rise to 

 intense suffering. The most serious of the i^unctured wounds are 

 those which happen to the center of the foot, and which involve, in 

 proportion to their depth, the x^lantar cushion, the plantar aponeurosis, 

 the sesamoid sheath, the navicular bone, or the coffin joint. 



Punctured wounds are more likely to be deep in flat or convex feet 

 than in well-made feet, and, as a rule, recovery is neither so rapid 

 nor so certain. These wounds are less serious in animals used for 

 heavj^ draught than in those required to do faster work; for the for- 

 mer may be useful, even if complete recovery is not effected. Lastly, 

 punctured wounds of the fore feet are more serious than of the hind 

 feet, for the reason that in the former the instrument is apt to enter 

 the foot in a nearly perpendicular line, and, consequently, is more 

 likely to injure the deejier structures of the foot, while in the hind 

 foot the injury is generall}^ near the heels and the wound oblique and 

 less deep. 



Symptoms. — \ nail or other sharp instrument may iienetrate the 

 frog and remain there for several daj^s without causing lameness; in 

 fact, in man}' cases of punctured wound of the frog the fi.rst evidence 

 of the injury is the finding of the nail on cleaning the foot or the 

 appearance of an oj)ening Avhere the skin and frog unite, from Avhich 

 more or less pus escapes. Even when the sole is perforated, if the 

 injury is not too deep, no lameness develops until suppuration is 

 established. In all cases of foot lameness, especially if the cause 

 is obscure, the foot should be examined for evidence of injujy. 



The lameness from punctured wounds, accomj)anied by suppuration, 

 is generally severe, the patient often refusing to use the affected mem- 

 ber at all. The pain being lancinating in character, he stands with 

 the injured foot at rest or constantly moves it back and forth. In 

 other cases the patient lies down most of the time with the feet out- 

 stretched; the breathing is raiiid, the iiulse fast, the temperature ele- 

 vated, and the body covered with patches of sweat. 



When the plantar aponeurosis is injured the x^ns escapes with diffi- 

 culty and the wound shows no signs of healing; the whole foot is hot 



