30 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES 
with the roller, the breast-girth passing over the points of the 
shoulders causes it to tighten, and thus the withers are pinched. 
With ordinary supervision this should be avoided; and it 
may safely be said that a sore back is suggestive, if not a 
proof, of inattention. 
But from whatever cause arising, the treatment is simple. 
A fomentation with a little astringent lotion should be 
applied to the injured part. This is the best, and, with 
proper care, an effective remedy. But it is necessary to see 
that, when at exercise, the saddle does not increase the 
mischief by pressing on the place. The roller should be dis- 
carded in every case of soreness; and a rug alone used, 
fastened under the fore-rib and before the shoulders to keep 
it from shifting. 
It is very necessary, as I have remarked, to attend to the 
feet. Neglect breeds thrush. But though this sometimes 
lames the horse, it is neither a dangerous nor a malignant 
disease, and readily succumbs to proper treatment. It will 
be found that a little tow dipped in tar and applied three or 
four times a week is the most simple and: efficacious remedy. 
The foot when hot may be so from disease, or from defective 
shoeing in some way, and in either case ought at once to be 
looked to; for in a state of health the feet are cold. 
The legs, on the contrary, should be comfortably warm. 
When they are not so, weak circulation may be suspected. 
On the other hand, unnatural warmth is a sure indication of 
local injury, the precise seat of which may generally be deter- 
mined by the exhibition of tenderness on pressure. In such 
cases, bathing with cold water may be used two or three 
times a day for an hour or more at a time, with cold flannel 
bandages; but if the suspensory ligament has given way, 
then consider the first loss the least, and the sooner the 
