CAKE AND MANAGEMENT OP ANIMALS 755 



future ; a big and painful leg which he can hardly put to 

 the ground is forgotten when cured. 



Stable Injuries. — Injuries produced in the stable from 

 other causes than kicking must now occupy our attention. 

 They may be divided into injuries due to defective con- 

 struction, those due to carelessness and bad stable manage- 

 ment, and those caused by conditions not wholly under 

 control. 



Injuries due to defective stable construction are nearly 

 matters of history, so great has been the improvement in 

 this respect in recent years. 



Cervical abscess, or poll-evil, was common enough in 

 stables with low doors ; if a horse ever knocked his head 

 going through a low door, he invariably threw up his head 

 every time he passed through it again, and repeated bruising 

 led to deep-seated and most serious trouble. If a horse 

 has to be led through a low doorway or gangway, as on 

 board a ship, the secret of preventing him from damaging 

 his poll is to give him a perfectly loose head, and never 

 to attempt to pull it down; he will lower it of his own 

 accord, any attempt to pull on it means that he will throw 

 it up. 



Narrow doors have fractured many a pelvis and bruised 

 many a hip; once a hip has been bruised by passing 

 through a narrow door it is never forgotten ; the next time 

 in all probability the animal will charge the opening in 

 order to escape as quickly as possible. This in fact 

 becomes a habit with some horses, and a most dangerous 



one. 



Overhead hay-racks lead to the introduction of foreign 

 bodies in the eye, such as hay seeds, or even laceration of 

 the cornea from projecting hay stems. 



Saddle or harness brackets on the heel post have cost 

 many a horse his eye, or severe injury to the face, through 

 being fitted too low. 



Torn eyelids and nostrils from nails in the stable wall or 

 partitions are most frequent causes of injury. If there is 

 a nail anywhere within reach a horse is sure to come m 



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