367 



Treatment. — Preventive measures would include the use of boots to 

 protect the coronet of the hind foot, and the use of a blimt calk on the 

 outside heel of the fore shoe, since this is generally the offending instru- 

 ment where the fore feet are injured. If the wound is not deep and 

 the soreness slight, cold-water bandages and a ligiit i)rotective dressing, 

 • such as carbolized cosinoline, will bs all that is needed. Where the in- 

 jury is deep, followed by inflammation and suppuration of the coronary 

 band, lateral cartilages, sensitive lauiinte, etc., active measures must be 

 resorted to. In these cases cold, astringent baths, made by adding two 

 ounces of sulphate of iron to a gallon of water, should be used, followed 

 by poultices if it is necessary to hasten the cleansing of the wound by 

 stimulating the sloughing process. Where the wound is deep between 

 the horn and skin, especially over the anterior tendon, the horn should 

 be cub away so that the injured tissues may be exposed. The subse- 

 quent treatment in these cases should follow the directions laid down 

 in the article on toe-cracks. 



FROST BITES. 



Excepting the ears, the feet and legs are abont the only parts of the 

 horse liable to become frost bitten. The cases most commonly seen are 

 found in cities, especially among car horses, where salt is used for the 

 purpose of melting the snow on curves and switches. This mixture of 

 snow and salt is splashed over the feet and legs, rapidly lowering the 

 temperature of the parts to the freezing point. In mountainous dis- 

 tricts where the snowfall is heavy and the cold often intense, frost bites 

 are not uncommon even among animals running at large. 



Symiitojus. — When the frosting is slight the skin becomes pale and 

 bloodless, followed soon after by intense redness, heat, pain, and swell- 

 ing. In these cases the hair may fall out and the epidermis peel off, 

 but the inflammation soon subsides, the swelling disappears, and only an 

 increased sensitiveness to cold remains. 



In cases more severe, irregular patches of skin are destroyed, and after 

 a few days' time slough away, leaving slow-healing ulcers behind. In 

 the cases produced by low temperatures and deep snow the coronary 

 band is the part most often aifected. 



In many instances there is no destruction of the skin, but simply a 

 temporary suspension of the horn-producing function of the coronary 

 baud. The fore feet are more often affected than the hind ones, and 

 for some reason the heels and quarters are less often involved than the 

 front part of the foot. The coronary band becomes hot, swollen and 

 painful, and after two or three days' time the horn separates from the 

 band and slight suppuration follows. For a few days the animal is 

 lame, but as the suppuration disappears, the lameness subsides ; new 

 horn, often of an inferior quality, is produced by the coronary band, 

 and in time the cleft is grown off and complete recovery is eflected. 



