Shoe - boil 173 
flabby bag, which contains a little watery fluid. The 
cause of shoe-boils is irritation due to lying on the 
shoe, with the foot bent back; hence, as soon as the 
first signs of it appear, the source of the irritation 
should be removed. This is not always easy. If the 
heels of the shoe are long they should be shortened, so 
that they will not protrude. The horse should be well 
bedded and a thick protecting pad placed on the pas- 
tern of the offending leg. Another excellent method 
of preventing a horse trom lying on the heel of the 
shoe is to spike a piece of plank two by six inches 
across the stall, about a foot back of where the front 
feet usually stand. The corners of the two-by-six 
should be rounded and the. whole well covered with 
bedding at night. This prevents the horse from doub- 
ling the fore foot back on the elbow when lying down, 
but does not inconvenience the animal. 
In the early stages of this disease, fomentations of 
hot water twice daily followed with a stimulating lini- 
ment well rubbed in will often bring relief. If the 
shoe-boil is large and filled with fluid, it should be 
opened at the most dependent part, the false membrane 
lining the cavity destroyed by swabbing the cavity out 
with butter of antimony, and the wound treated as 
a fistula. 
Another form of capped elbow is a fibrous tumor, 
which usually occurs where a soft shoe-boil breaks and 
is neglected, or when the cause of the shoe-boil is 
not entirely removed. The best treatment is to remove 
the fibrous bunches with the knife and to treat after- 
ward as a simple wound. 
