Treatment.—No remedy. The cabman's pad is the only alleviation: that conceals and does not cure the disease.
RUPTURE, OR STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS.
Cause.—The use of the butt-end of a carter's whip, which either rends the lining membrane of or ruptures the gullet.
Symptom of Rupture.—The body becomes distended with gas, and death ensues. Of Rent Membrane.—This induces a disinclination to feed, as the first symptom. A stricture is formed. Excessive hunger. Distention of the tube. A large sac is developed out of the stretched membrane above the stricture. Then, after feeding, the animal fixes the neck, and returns the masticated food through the mouth and nostrils. Accompanying loss of condition and failure of strength.
Treatment.—Feed on prepared soft food: though the horse is generally not worth its ordinary keep at the stage when this is required.
SANDCRACK.
Causes.—Bad health, provoking imperfect secretion. Treading for any length of time upon a very dry soil.
Symptoms.—Quarter crack occurs on light horses upon the inner side of the hoof. It usually commences at the coronet, goes down the foot, and reaches to the laminæ. Toe crack happens in heavy wheelers, and is caused by digging the toe into the ground when dragging a load up hill. From the sensitive laminæ, when exposed, fungoid granulations sometimes sprout, which, being pinched, produce excessive pain and acute lameness.
Treatment.—Always pare out the crack, so as to convert it into a groove. When the crack is partial, draw a line with a heated iron above and below the fissure. If granulations have sprouted, cleanse the wound with chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to the ounce of water, and then cut them off. Afterward place the foot in a poultice. Subsequently pare down the edges of the crack while the horn is soft. Use the lotion frequently. Draw lines from the coronet to the crack, so as to cut off communication between the fissure and the newly-secreted horn. Shoe with a bar shoe, having the seat of crack well eased off and also a clip on either side. If the horse must work, lay a piece of tow saturated with the lotion into the crack: bind the hoof tightly with wax-end. Tie over all a strip of cloth, and give this a coating of tar. When the horse returns, inspect the part. Wash out any grit with the chloride of zinc lotion. Feed liberally on prepared food.
SCALD MOUTH.