4 
FIRING FOR SPAVIN. 
me to adopt a different mode of procedure, in order to prevent a 
recurrence of the evil, and relieve myself from the too frequent 
annoyance I had experienced on this head. 
“ My mode of treatment, although simple, will be found to be 
very efficacious in preventing the disfigurement above alluded to. 
At the expiration of a week from the time of operating (or sooner 
if the legs have ceased to discharge, and are becoming dry and 
hard), I make my patient stand in a tub of warm water, or foment 
the legs for an hour and a half, or two hours, every day; carefully 
removing from time to time the sloughs and scurf, or discharge, 
and applying a little common oil or lard, which it is of conse- 
quence to do before the surface gets quite dry, in order to keep the 
parts soft and pliable, as well as to facilitate the removal of the 
sloughs and scabs, or inspissated discharge. In the course of a 
week, under this treatment, the sloughs will separate. 
“ In the event of any superabundant granulations* I have re- 
course to the sulphate of zinc, or sulphate of copper, in solution, & c. 
“ When perfectly healed and free from scurf, I prefer a loose 
box to the grass field for a fortnight or three weeks, making use 
of wet bandages, physic, &c., occasionally leading my patient out 
to stretch his legs, as circumstances may dictate.” 
My own practice is, as soon as the period arrives for foment- 
ation, to have the fired parts daily cleansed by bathing with warm 
water, and afterwards besprinkled with common (baker’s) flour ; 
that, in consequence of being of itself an astringent as well as an 
absorbent, rendering the use of any lotion or other application, 
unless in cases assuming an unhealthy aspect, unnecessary. 
I likewise quite agree with my relation in his concluding para- 
graph about the expediency of turning horses out at such a period 
and such a season. “The system of turning (the fired horse) out 
in a week or ten days after firing or blistering — the practice of 
the old school — is, in my opinion, decidedly objectionable. A loose 
box, together with the treatment beforementioned, until the in- 
flammation attendant upon the operation has subsided, is to be 
preferred ; for, should the animal be placed in a situation which 
affords him an opportunity of taking violent exercise while the 
legs are in an inflamed state, or before they have recovered their 
wonted tone and strength, he is likely to suffer from, instead of 
being benefitted by, the operation. I have seen many horses that 
had been blistered and turned out during the summer months 
taken up with their legs thicker than before turning out, which I 
could attribute to nothing but their having been driven about by 
their companions, tormented by the flies, and made to exert them- 
selves when the ground was hard, and at a time when the legs 
were not in a fit state to bear such exertion.” 
