174 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
Should lameness occur within two or three days after the 
horse has been shod, the first suspicion should fall upon the 
foot. The best of smiths may prick the foot in shoeing^ 
and he that acts honestly in such a case, by at once 
acknowledging it, or informing the owner, will not deserve 
blame. It is in concealing or denying the possibility of 
the thing that causes all the mischief. Because, whenever 
it is discovered, the shoe should be taken off, and that 
too with much care. Some foolish smiths are in the habit 
of wrenching off shoes, a practice which, under any circum¬ 
stances, cannot be too severely condemned. 
Remedies. —As soon as the injured part is detected, the 
sole should be well thinned down around it, and at the 
punctured spot it should be pared to the quick. We are 
speaking of one of some days’ standing, in which case 
matter will issue from it, and the sore will be thereby 
relieved. If the wound is quite fresh, then all that will 
be necessary after thinning the hoof is to apply a pledget 
with some Friar’s balsam to it; or fill the wound with 
bees’-wax, and it will quickly heal if kept clean. If, how¬ 
ever, it does not heal speedily, and it becomes hot, then 
inflammation will have taken place, and therefore it will 
be necessary to apply a poultice. 
But in wounds of the foot much depends upon the par¬ 
ticular part which has been injured. Although a pretty 
deep wound is inflicted towards the back part of the sole, 
and even extending into the frog, still it may not be 
attended with much danger or inconvenience to the animal, 
because there is no motion in that portion of the foot, and 
there are besides no bones or tendons to be injured. Neither 
is much harm to be apprehended from a prick near the toe. 
But in the centre of the sole, where the flexor tendons pass 
over, especially where the tendon is inserted into the coffin- 
