348 TREAD AND OVERREACH. 
TREAD AND OVERREACH. 
Tread is a very rare occurrence with light horses; the author has met 
with but one instance. Then, from the horse being a good stepper, and 
from the accident happening toward the end of a long journey, as well 
as from certain indications of the wound itself, it was conjectured to have 
occurred in the manner depicted below. 
TREAD IN LIGOT HORSES. TREAD UPON THE HIND FOOT 
The hind foot, from fatigue, not being removed OF CART-HORSES. 
soon enough, is wounded by the heel of the The animal become unsteady from exhaustion; 
fore shoe being placed upon its coronet. the feet cross, and a wound results. 
However, among cart-horses such a form of injury is more frequent; 
these poor animals have to drag heavy loads, at a slow pace, it is true, 
but to long distances; they are generally badly fed. Farmers’ horses, 
especially during the spring and summer months, being supported upon 
green-meat, the watery nourishment impoverishes the blood, and the 
exhausting labor undermines the system. Often the load has to be taken 
down hill, toward the end of a tedious journey; the whole burden then 
rests upon the shafts, and the wretched horse which is between them 
rocks under the weight like a drunken man. The legs cross, till at last 
the calkin belonging to the shoe of one hind foot tears away a large lump 
of the opposite coronet. A piece of flesh is commonly left upon the 
ground; the hemorrhage is extreme, and the wagon is brought to a 
stand. 
The worst case of the kind the writer ever saw occurred after the pre- 
ceding fashion; and the carter—who, by-the-by, was proprietor of the 
sufferer—left the poor horse in a forge, giving orders that the smith was 
to do what he could, or to have it killed, as he pleased. The smith con- 
sulted the writer, and he treated the wound after the method recom- 
mended for open joint, or by bathing it thrice daily with the solution of 
chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water. In a week a large 
slough took place; this opened the coffin-joint, and left a portion of the 
extensor pedis tendon hanging from the orifice. The treatment was 
continued ; the lameness, which at first was excessive, gradually grew 
