Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1869 — Sore Backs on Horses. [ARTICLE]

Sore Backs on Horses.

A strong horse with a sore back is frequently shorn of half his strength. A sore back is usually the result of a miserable harness. Yet in many instances, the back band is made too short, or isbuckled up too tight, so that the traces at the b ick-b-ind are raised above a direct line from the hatnes to,the whiffle-tree. When this is the case, the back-band, when the horse draws, is pressed down with force on the back; and unless the pad is soft, or the harness be made with a patent back, a wound will be made, which wiljl be difficult to heal, so long as the harness that made the wound is employed' on the animat When a horse has ta sore back, and it seems necessary to keep him in the harness, let the back-band be removed entirely; or let it be lengthened, and fastened a few inches back of the wound.

It will be very easy to determine whether a back-hand is liable to injure the animal’s back, by observing, when he draws, whether the portion of the harness directly above the back is drawn down forcibly or is lifted clear from the back. A wound on the back of a horse is frequently irritated so long by the rough harness that It becomes almost incurable. A fresh wound, if not kept bleeding by the rubbing of the harness, will heal, in two or three weeks in warm weather without any other medicine than soapsuds. But an old wound that has tried to heal after the scab has been rubbed off several times requires an application of burnt alum, pulverized, to cleanse it of the “proud fle*h.” The beat remedy is a preventive. The driver is the one on whom the blame should rest, for allowing a horse to have a sore back. If the harness is not right, let it be made right before a horse is required to work in it. It is barbarous to work an animal in a harness that will gall the flesh. Better cut an old collar and harness into fragments, and bury the pieces beneath a grape vine, than to continue to use such fixtures as will wound a faithful beast of burden. Furthermore, when a sore back has been allowed to ulcerate, frequently discharging ichorous matter, one of the most efficacious remedies is, to bathe the wound for two successive hours In strong soapsuds every day, and after the bathing, wash the.aff.cted part with a solution of Salt petre and spirits of turpentine, prepared as follows: Put one-quarter of a pound of saltpetre and half a pint of turpentine into a bottle; shake up well before using ; apply to the wound three times a day with a feather. And when the wound has assumed a healthful appearance and seems to be healing, this medicine may be discontinued. — American Stock Journals