CHAPTER V 
GENERAL REMARKS ON OPERATIONS ON THE 
FOOT 
A. METHODS OF RESTRAINT. 
Many of the simple operations on the foot, such as the 
probing of a sinus, the paring out of corns, or the search- 
ing of pricks, may most suitably be performed with the 
animal’s leg held by the operator as a smith holds it for 
shoeing. According to the temperament of the animal, 
even the operation for the removal of a portion of the sole, 
or the injection of sinuses with caustics, may be carried 
out with the animal simply twitched. 
When the operation is still a simple one, casting incon- 
venient or impossible, and the animal restive, the twitch 
must be supplemented by some other method. The most 
simple and one of the most effective is the blind, cap, 
or bluff (Fig. 88). With it the most vicious animal or the 
most nervous is in many instances either cowed into sub- 
mission or soothed into quietness. 
At the same time, more forcible means than the opera- 
tor’s own strength must be taken to hold the animal’s foot 
from the ground. If the foot is a fore-foot, and the point 
desired to be operated on is to the outside, the pastern 
should be firmly lashed to the forearm by means of a thin, 
short cord, or a leather strap and buckle. Much may then 
be done in the way of paring and probing that would 
otherwise be impossible. 
If the foot is a hind one, one of the many methods of 
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