402 THE HORSE. 



deposited, which breaks away in phices, and the frog looks ragged 

 and uneven, with a greasy surface, smells very foul, and feeh hot 

 to the touch. Here the treatment must be general as well as local. 

 A dose of physic should be given, the food should be of a loss 

 stimulating quality, and care should be taken that regular exercise 

 is allowed every day. The stable should be kept cool, and of 

 course attention should be paid to cleanliness both of the foot and 

 the litter. As to local remedies, they must not be of the stimu- 

 lating kind, which will suit the thrush from decomposition, or that 

 presently to be described. The foot should be placed in a bran 

 poultice, and kept in it for some days, till the united action of the 

 local and general treatment have reduced the inflammation. After 

 a few days it will be well to dress the frog with tar ointment, or 

 the poultice will do more harm than good, by causing the decom- 

 position of its horny covering, and indeed it is seldom that this 

 wet application should be employed for more than a week. After 

 this time has elapsed, all the good to be derived from it has been 

 accomplished, and the subsequent treatment may generally be 

 effected by attention to the health, and dressing the frog with tar 

 ointment. Sometimes it may be necessary to employ a slight 

 stimulus, and then the solution of chloride of zinc will be found to 

 be the best. 



The third kind of thrush occurs in contracted feet, and is 

 due to the same cause, namely, chronic inflammation of the sensi- 

 ble frog, produced by overwork, aided in many cases by neglect in 

 shoeing. There is a tendency to the secretion of unsound horn 

 over the whole foot, sometimes too thick and hard, and at others 

 of a cellular structure, without sufficient strength to bear the pressure 

 of the road. The horny frog generally looks shrunken and withered ; 

 and in its cleft there is a foul discharge, on wiping which out a 

 soft spongy matter may be seen at the bottom, which is the sensible 

 frog itself, but in a diseased condition. In bad cases, the sides of 

 the horny frog have separated, and even the toe is sometimes defi- 

 cient of its covering; but generally the horn has only disappeared 

 in patches, and there are ragged portions remaining. The disease 

 here is of too chronic a nature to be easily cured, and if there is 

 much disorganization of the laminae it will be almost impossible to 

 effect a perfect cure. The first thing to be done is to clear away 

 all the ragged portions of horn, so as to be able to reach the sensi- 

 ble frog. Some tow is then to be smeared with the following oint- 

 ment • — 



Take of Ointment of Nitrate of Mercury .... 1 drachm. 



Zinc Ointment 1 oz. 



Creosote 4 drops. Mix. 



and pressed into the cleft of the frog, where it can best be retained 



