The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

70 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
if kept on. If, however, the wound is deep, after it has
been carefully washed, and you are satisfied there
is no dirt or other substance in the wound, get some
carbolic oil made with one part pure carbolic acid, and
five parts finest Lucca or salad oil, pour some into the
wound, then press the lips of the wound as close together
as possible, and if you can put a stitch into it with a
curved needle to hold the lips together, it will greatly
facilitate the healing process.
Having got the lips together, saturate a pellet of tow
with the oil, bandage it firmly over the w T ound, and do
not remove the bandage again for three or four days, by
which time the wound will have become consolidated.
Sometimes the leg will swell very much, and masters and
grooms fear that the leg is too tightly bandaged and undo
it too soon, causing the wound to slough, and leave an
ugly scar for their pains. When legs swell from the
inflammation set up by the wound, it can easily be pre-
vented from rising up the leg to the body by puncturing
the swollen mass with the lancet in three or four places
this will let out the inflammatory fluid and arrest the
swelling. The limb should be bathed with arnica lotion
composed of arnica b.p. one part, and cold spring water
ten parts. Keep the limb moist with linen bandages
soaked with the lotion ; never let them get dry, or you
will do much more harm than good. It is better to have
the legs washed with the lotion and no bandages put on
than to let the bandage get dry. Short-legged horses
very seldom overreach, but long-legged ones often do—to
their owner's cost, and risk of neck and collar-bone, &c,