THE HORSE'S FOOT. 395 



Question: Should the blacksmith rasp the hoof to clinch the nail? 



Prof. Grange: There is no necessary harm in the practice and it makes a 

 ■better looking job. 



Question: Can the diseases of horses be inherited? 



Prof. Grange: Certainlyj many if not all of them. Ring bone is an 

 inherited difficulty often occurring in colts and yearlings. It is a growth of 

 superfluous bone. It is commonest in horses in which the pastern is very 

 upright as in such cases there is greater concussion. Chestfounder is not 

 apt to be transmitted by inheritance. 



Mr. VVetmore : It used to be a practice to treat ring-bone by lifting or 

 separating the skin from the bunch under It, and that would cause the bunch 

 to subside. 



Prof. Grange : That often appears to take place after the two bones have 

 united. After the joint becomes affected I should consider the disease 

 incurable. 



Question : What is coffin-joint lameness ? 



Prof. Grange : Ifc is the playing of the flexor pedis over the bone that acts 

 as a pulley block. It is a disease common in roadsters and rare indraft- 

 horses. Often caused by working horses too hard. It is the result of a strain 

 or else it is inherited. In the former case it begins in the tendon, in the lat- 

 ter case it begins in the bone and it is then more difficult to cure. Symptoms 

 of lameness often appears after shoeing, disappearing in a couple of days and 

 reappearing in a month or so again or when re-shod. The animal when start- 

 ing after standing a half hour goes latne at first. In chronic cases the toe of 

 the shoe is particularly worn, the animal standing with one foot in front of 

 the other. A frequent secondary effect of the disease, resulting directly from 

 non use of the foot, is atrophy and shrinking of the foot and of the muscles 

 at the shoulder. 



Treatment to be of any use should be given before the case becomes chronic. 

 First, poultice for two or three days. Second, blister the coronet and then 

 turn the animal out onto soft pasture for a couple of months. For a chronic case 

 neurotomy is sometimes successfully practiced. The nerve runs along the 

 front edge of the back tendon on each side and may be cut by making a ver- 

 tical slit in the skin at this place a few inches above the pastern. An artery 

 and a vein are in close neighborhood, the former distinguished by a pulse the 

 latter by its color. The nerve if pressed will make the leg twitch. Cut at 

 top of incision first and then at bottom. 



Question: Is coffin joint lameness ever caused by fast driving and sudden 

 chilling? 



Prof. Grange : No ; not from the latter certainly, though it might be from 

 a strain incident to the fast driving. 



Mr. : I had a very nice horse ruined by fast driving and sudden 



cooling. 



Prof. Grange: It may have caused laminitis but not coffin joint lame- 

 ness. 



Question: What do you think of having horses go barefoot? 



Prof. Grange: It is often an admirable practice. Where the roads are not 

 too hard the animal will probably fare better than if carelessly shod. 



Question: Would permanent injury be caused by allowing farm horses to 

 go barefoot till tender? 



Prof. Grange: No, sir; a soft pasture will remedy the tenderness. 



Question : What causes corns? 



