SADDLEEY AND SORE BACKS. 
505 
Abscesses of the withers seldom occur on home service, owing to the 
precautions taken, but on a campaign they have hitherto been un¬ 
pleasantly frequent. These cases occur from deep-seated injury caused 
generally by long continued saddle pressure, and are often difficult to 
treat owing to the dense nature of the tissues which lie beneath the 
skin, and then a liability to degenerate into fistulae. An abscess 
generally assumes the form at first of a hard swelling, which is ex¬ 
tremely painful to the touch. Our object is to assist nature in hastening 
the “ pointing ” process— i.e ., bring it to a head—and this is best done 
by constant hot fomentations and poultices. The stimulating effect of 
a mild blister will be found useful in cases where the abscess shows a 
disinclination to point outwardly. When the swelling becomes soft 
and fluctuating it must be freely lanced at the most depending part 
and the whole of the purulent matter liberated. The orifice must be 
kept open to admit of free drainage, the part well fomented, and then 
treated as a simple wound. 
A fistula is the result of a deep-seated abscess which, from inability 
to point outwardly in the first instance, burrows amongst the structures 
by means of sinuses or channels, occasionally involving the spines 
of the vertebrae. This is the most serious and complicated of all the 
various descriptions of saddle injuries with which we have to deal, 
and requires the treatment of a skilled surgeon. It is generally neces¬ 
sary to make extensive incisions, so as to lay the diseased parts freely 
open, and frequently a counter-opening has to be made at the most 
depending points to admit of free drainage. Occasionally artificial 
inflammation has to be set up by means of a tape seton passed through 
the tissues, and frequently portions of diseased bone have to be re¬ 
moved. Some of the worst cases of fistulous withers I have ever seen 
occurred amongst the horses of the Auxiliary Cavalry in Zululand, to 
which I have already referred. Many of the injuries were of such a 
severe nature that extensive surgical operations had to be performed, 
and some of the cases were so bad as to necessitate the destruction of 
the animals. 
Such a condition of things can only be described as the outcome of 
culpable neglect and mismanagement, and ought never to have been 
permitted to occur. 
So long as our troop horses are doomed to carry the mass of dead 
weight now imposed upon them we cannot hope to abolish sore backs 
altogether, but I contend that by the exercise of ordinary care, and 
with a knowledge of the causes of these injuries and the best methods, 
of prevention, they can be reduced to a minimum, while such cases as 
I have just described ought in future to be of extremely rare occurrence. 
Frequent inspections of backs and saddles are necessary at all time's, 
but especially are they of urgent importance on service. The horse's 
back is a highly sensitive structure, and oftentimes a very serious 
injury will arise from a very small cause. The hand should be passed 
carefully along the back of every horse daily, both in the direction of 
and against the hair, and any deviation from its natural condition 
should be at once noted and reported. These inspections should in¬ 
clude all parts of the animal which come in contact with any portion 
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