TREATMENT AFTER WORK. 221 



riage-horse will only need the ordinary grooming-, which has been 

 described at page 183 ', that is to say, provided the feet are not in 

 pain from ill-fitting shoes. 



Exhaustion is sometimes so great that before any food can be 

 taken a cordial must be given, in the shape either of a warm ball, 

 or a quart of warm spiced ale. Generally, however, some gruel 

 will suffice, when aided by a warm box and the other comforts 

 which are afforded by the groom, including dressing, clothing, 

 bandaging, &c. 



Blows on the legs are reduced by hot fomentations, continued 

 for half an hour at a time, and repeated at intervals of one, two, 

 or three hours, in proportion to the severity of the mischief. Cold 

 applications are too apt to relieve the skin and cellular membrane 

 beneath it at the expense of the joints, and I have never seen them 

 of much service. Nothing, I believe, is so valuable in all blows 

 received in the hunting-field as hot fomentation, but it should be 

 thoroughly carried out, and not done by halves, as it too often is 

 by careless grooms. It no doubt has a tendency to increase the 

 swelling for a time, but in doing this the blood is drawn to the 

 surface, and internal mischief is often prevented. I have had 

 young horses come home with their knees and shins terribly 

 bruised over timber and stone walls, but though the fomentation 

 with hot water has enlarged the knees to a frightful size, there 

 has been no lameness on the next day; and the swelling has gra- 

 dually disappeared, leaving the joints as free as ever at the expira- 

 tion of forty-eight hours. On the other hand, I have tried cold 

 wet bandages for similar injuries, but I have invariably found that 

 they gave present relief to a slight extent, but left the limbs stiff 

 and rheumatic often for the next two or three weeks. The addi- 

 tion of a little tincture of arnica to the water for fomentation is a 

 great improvement when it is at hand, and I should always advise 

 the hunting groom to keep a stock of it by him during the season. 

 A wineglassful is enough for half a bucket of hot water. 



Thorns are most troublesome to the groom, and it is often a 

 question of great doubt whether to persevere in the endeavor to 

 remove them, or to leave them alone until they manifest themselves 

 by the inflammation they produce. When the hunter comes home, 

 his legs should be carefully examined while they are wet (that is 

 to say, if his exhausted condition does not forbid the loss of time) ; 

 and if the hand clearly detects any projection, search should at 

 once be made with a view to the removal of the foreign body. 

 Usually, however, the thorn has buried itself, and it is only when 

 it has produced some considerable degree of inflammation that 

 attention is drawn to the spot. When lameness is shown in any 

 of the limbs on coming home from hunting, the groom always is 

 incliued to suspect a thorn as the cause of mischief, and I have 

 19* 



