GALLS, or GALLING
.—Lacerations occasioned by the too tight pressure and friction of an uneasy and ill-fitted saddle, or heavy harness, are so called. They are seldom seen with either the judicious or the enlightened; experience having taught both how to appreciate PREVENTION. The prudent SPORTSMAN will never take his horse to the field, nor the humane driver his carriage-horse to the road, till personal examination has convinced him the necessary apparatus is not only firm, but proportionally easy; and this should become the more predominant in memory, because it is natural to conclude, no man existing would, by neglect or inattention, give pain to the very animal from whose exertions he is to derive his own PLEASURE.
Injuries of this description, if unexpectedly sustained, should be immediately attended to; a repetition, and that soon, upon the part so injured, is frequently productive of trouble, expence, loss of time, and disappointment. When the side of a horse is galled, as it sometimes is, by the girth-buckle having been most improperly placed upon the edge of the pad, it is not unlikely, for want of early or proper attention, to terminate in a SITFAST, and then can only be completely cured by extirpation with the knife. The WITHERS being affected in the same way, and the saddle or harness continued in use by which the injury was originally occasioned, the foundation of FISTULA may be laid, and will be likely to ensue. In all slight and superficial galls, two or three moistenings of the part with cold vinegar will allay the inflammation, and harden the surface; but where the long-continued heat and friction has occasioned a destruction of parts, it must be dressed and managed as a wound, which can only be completely cured by incarnation.