160 STRAIN OF BA CK TENDONS 



lancet thrust horizontally under the sole, and almost 

 any quantity of blood may thus be easily procured. If 

 it is desired to increase the bleeding the foot may be 

 immersed in a bucket of warm water. When a 

 sufficient quantity of blood has been drawn a piece of 

 tow may be placed in the groove and the shoe tacked 

 on. The bleeding will thus be at once stopped and 

 the wound will heal. The leg should be well fomented 

 with warm water for half-an-hour at a time some two 

 or three times daily. Between the fomentations the 

 leg should be enclosed in a linseed poultice, and some 

 extract — such as Goulard's, Farrell's, or ColHns' — may 

 be also added to the fomentations. Moisture and 

 warmth are the chief aids to cure. No stimulants of 

 any kind must be used. A thin elastic flannel bandage, 

 previously soaked in vinegar and spirits of wine, should 

 then be placed over the swollen part. This bandage 

 should be tightened each day as the swelling becomes 

 gradually reduced. The proportion of vinegar and 

 spirits of wine used is a pint of the former to half-a- 

 pint of the latter. If with the above treatment a 

 relapse occurs, it wall be due to the horse being worked 

 too soon. If it is found that the remedy here given is 

 insufficient to reduce the swelling, and that the latter 

 continues in spite of it, 'ossiline' blister, which will 

 leave no mark, should be at once applied. In extreme 

 cases still severer remedies are necessary and firing may 

 have to be resorted to. If the 'ossiline ' fails to do its 

 work, and the skin becomes thickened, or the swelling 

 callous, there is nothing for it but to fire the leg. A 

 few weeks' rest is sufficient if the 'ossiline' only is 

 used, but where it is a case of firing, at least six 

 months must be allowed. Nor, if any blister is used 



