THE VETERINARIAN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1262, 7 May 1896, Page 5

THE VETERINARIAN.

THRUSH. To any but those iutim itely as u>< i ited [ wil Ii leu': es it most seen, eminently ridiculous to hear '■ frogs " and i " thrushes " spoken of in connection I with the !'- et of these animal-:, and it I is certainly a Id it on scientific veterinary nomenclature that no more expressive name has been found for a disease of Jiltat wedge-shaped organ known as the "frog" than that also applied to a British singing bird. Popular names for portions of the anatomy of the horse, and the diseases to which they are subject, are commonly inexpressive, and in many cases positively misleading, but in these cases "frog" and "thrush" ate also the terms technically employed, or in other words, no more scientific designation has been found for them. Originally the term is said to have been " frtish," but we are not sure that this is any more cxptessive of a discharge of fetid material from the frog than the name by which it is now generally known. The discharge arises from a diseased condition of the secretory surface of tho fibro-fatty portion of the organ, The cleft of the frog is the

part commonly first affected, but when neglected tho disease spreads over the whole of it, the horn becoming detached from the bulbs of tho heels to the toe of the frog. The causes are generally put down as wet and dirt, the maceration of tho feet in the irritating materials generated in the decomposition of dung and urine-soaked straw, or in filthy messes used as stopping;), but lite influence of bad shoeing, and the unrestricted use of the knife in paring the frog and sole, and cutting away the bars to give the foot an open appearance, are factors quite as important as maceration. Beyond this, and especially when thrushes occur in the forefeet, there undoubtedly exists in some horses a predisposition by breed, and these cases are, it need hardly be said, by far tho most difficult to cure. Thrush is, perhaps, seen at its worst in contracted feet, and it has been considered that the system of shoeing, which confines the heels and prevents the frog coming to the ground, is at the bottom of tho mischief, and tho same thing applies to the use of calkins and thick-heeled shoes.

The average horseman has a pious horror of the frog touching the ground. " Look," says the groom when the horse goes tender, " he is right down on his frogs." This is, however, just the [dace for them, and no harm would result if the frogs had not been previously mutilated and deprived of the protective covering of horn by the excessive use of the knife. Free paring and prolonged deprivation of function results in a shrivelled, shrunken, thrushy, and useless member, instead of our having a sound, healthy, full, prominent structure, as is the case when the frog is left to exfoliate and to perform its natural functions of sustaining weight, lessening concussion, and preventing slipping. The correctness of this reasoning is fully established by the fact that the frog undergoes a salutary chango in a very short lime when the smith can bo induced to spare tho knife, and that thrushes are to be cured by shoeing only with tips or improved charliers, which leaves the heels free and permits the frogs to come to the ground. In dealing with thrush, something depends on the severity of the case and the cause from which it arises. Everybody's horses seem to have thrash more or less, but it is very rare that actual lameness results, or that active treatment is required, tf there is merely a slight moisture, that smells somewhat unpleasantly, exuding from the cleft of the frog, it will generally bo found sufficient to clean out the cleft, and draw through it a piece of twisted low saturated with Stockholm tar. The blacksmith will do this when the horse is shod. For a bad thrush it is necessary to cut away all rotten, ragged horn, but care should be taken that nothing sound is touched, it is useful, by way of dressing, to dust the diseased parts with calomel, an old but somewhit neglected remedy ; or, if a fluid dressing is preferred, a mixture of equal parts of compound tincture of myrrh and btilyr of antimony may be used. There is rarely any necessity for the strong caustic agents such .as the undiluted mineral acids that arc sometimes employed. Coincident with any treatment, there must bo a careful avoidance of the conditions that we know tire calculated to cause thrush. The animal should not be allowed to stand on dung or urinesnaked straw. The feet should bo kept picked out, and be washed out every morning with cold water to remove dung; Mid, on a return from woik, to :;ot ri I of grit, &c, that may have insinuated itself info the cleft. Moss litter, owing to the manner in which it packs the sole.-;, is not a desirable bedding for hoises with thrush. For similar reasons, a wet pasture should be avoided. It is sometimes advisable with horses that have to continue to work with bad thrushes to pack tho frog-; with tar and tow, after applying the dressing, ami then to apply a leather sole under the shoe ; but, as a general rule, the frogs are best left exposed, both to harden them and to facilitate dressing.