The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-06-10
Nail Pricks.

A few days ago neighbor was pas
sing with an extremely lame horse, and
knowing the trouble must have been
Of short duration, inquired the cause.
He replied:
II hardly know whether 1t Is gravel
ed or pricked In shooting"
"What are you going to do for 1t % !
asked.
"Well as he has been getting worse
for several days, have taken off the
shoe and think l will turn him out to
pasture; whatever is the cause, twill
work out above the hoos after awhile
and get well Of ITSELF"
But. my friend, don't you know
you will keep the horse lame u
week or two longer than Is necessary,
by following out this course, and that
you will run the risk of serious altera-
lions In the foot from the imprisoned
pus, to say nothing of the liability of
your horse to die from nervous exhaus.
ton or lock-jaw, In the meantime
w 4 VI
er?n
II will show you" replied, and
with a small tack hammer I satisfied
myself, by gently striking the different
parts of the foot as to the exact locali-
ty of the soreness. Then with draw
ing knife, pared completely through
the horn over this point. AS my knife
penetrated to the sensitive tissues, the
pus spurted out as though propelled
from syringe; after enlarging the or
fee sufficiently to insure the pus free
exit, allowed the foot to rest on the
ground, when, TO the establishment of
my fri End, the greater part of the lame
ness was found to have disappeared,
That pus," I explained, chad form
ed at the point of Injury it was press
ing In every direction on the infamed
tissues. AS II was imprisoned by the
horny substance of the hoof its only
progress must be in an upward dlrec-
ton; but In order to pierce the struc-
lures of the foot In this direction, Its
bulk must increase till the pressure was
sufficient to force an opening This
pressure was already so great as to cause
the horse excruciating pain, and when
he tried to rest his weight on that foot
the compression thus caused so In
creased his sufferngs as to make him
almost refuse to walk. But that pus
had hardly commenced the channel 1t
would have been necessary to form In
order to obtain an external opening.
How terrible, then, would the suffer
ings Of this horse have been before ma.
lure could have accomplished this nee
essary labor. have freed this pus
with less than five minutes work 10
free itself would have required from
Ave TO ten days. During this time
your horse would have lost In condition
to the amount of at least one dollar per
day you would have completely lost
his services for that time, and the risk
you would have borne of serious com.
plicatlons, or even death would be
more Important than either of the 9TH
er considerations. At present you have
only a simple infiamed sore of the foot.
the only treatments 1t needs Is an an.
plication to keep the horn soft and &c
abate the existing Inflammation. A
wheat bran poultice exactly answers
these conditions. Take piece Of 6
pantaloon leg and sew up one end, ol
make email sack, of strong cloth
large enough to admit the horses fool
and long enough to reach above the
fetleck then mix up the bran with no
water enough to nicely wet II, but no
SO much as to make the water drair
from It. Put some Of the warm bran II
the bottom of the bag then put in tn,
horses foot. fill with the wet bran to
little above the hoof and tie with wild
strips Of cloth to prevent unnecessar,
construction. Apply fresh poultc
morning and night till the lamenes
disappears then grease the hoof to pre-
vent Its drying unnaturally after tn
mRoeration, put on the shoe and tn
treatment Is hnished,U