Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others].

Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    522/690 (page 448)
    CALLOSITIES. These are simple thickening and induration of the cuticle by reason of continued pressure, notably in lying down on a hard surface. Being devoid of hair, they cause blemishes; hence smooth floors and good bedding should be secured as preventives. HORNY SLOUGHS (SITFASTS), OR SLOUGHING CALLOSITIES. These are circumscribed sloughs of limited portions of the skin, the result of pressure by badly fitting harness or by irritating masses of dirt, sweat, and hairs under the harness. They are most common under the saddle, but may be found under collar or breeching as well. The sitfast is a piece of dead tissue which would be thrown off but that it has formed firm connections with the fibrous skin beneath, or even deeper with the fibrous layers (fascia) of the muscles, or with the bones, and is thus bound in its place as a persistent source of irri- tation. The horn-like slough may thus involve the superficial part of the skin only, or the whole thickness of the skin, and even of some of the structures beneath. The first object is to remove the dead irri- tant b}^ dissecting it off with a sharp knife, after which the sore may be treated with simple wet cloths or a weak carbolic acid lotion, like a common wound. If the outline of the dead mass is too indefinite, a linseed-meal poultice will make its outline more evident to the opera- tor. If the fascia or bone has become gangrenous the dead portion must be removed with the horn-like skin. During and after treat- ment the horse must be kept at rest or the harness must be so adjusted that no pressure can come near the affected parts. WARTS. These are essentially a morbid overgrowth of the superficial papil- lary layer of the skin and of the investing cuticular layer. They are mostly seen in young horses, about the lips, eyelids, cheeks, ears, beneath the belly, and on the sheath, but may develop anywhere. The smaller ones may be clipped off with scissors and the raw surface cauterized with bluestone. The larger may be sliced off with a sharp knife, or if with a narrow neck they may be twisted off and then cau- terized. If very vascular they may be strangled by a wax thread or cord tied around their necks, at least three turns being made round and the ends being fixed by passing them beneath the last preceding turn of the cord, so that they can be tightened day by day as they slacken by shrinkage of the tissues. If the neck is too broad it may be trans- fixed several times with a double-threaded needle and then be tied in sections. Very broad warts that can not be treated in this way may be burned down to beneath the surface of the skin with a soldering bolt at a red heat, and any subsequent tendency to overgrowth kept down by bluestone.