VILLITIS 609 



BRITTLE FEET 



In some feet the proportion of gelatinous material appears to be in- 

 adequate, and the wall of the foot is consequently brittle and difficult to 

 shoe, as the clinches of the nails chip away the foot, and if a shoe should be 

 cast on the road, serious damage to the crust may follow before the shoe 

 can be replaced. The defect may be congenital and is observed among 

 colts, or it may be the result of chronic indigestion according to Captain 

 Hayes, who points to the symjoathy existing between the sensitive laminae 

 and the mucous membrane lining the stomach and intestines. 



Tar has the reputation of improving the quality of horn, and lanoline 

 also apj)ears to supply in a measure the material required. 



VILLITIS 



Inflammation op the coronet. Swelling all round above the foot ; 

 heat and some tenderness distinguish the cause of lameness, which is the 

 result of concussion, and therefore most frequent among roadsters with 

 high action, and in dry, hot climates. When a subject of this malady has 

 been rested, and wet swabs applied for a day or so, he may come out fairly 

 sound, but with work the pain returns and a shuffling gait, and ends in 

 lameness before a moderate journey can be accomplished. 



Treatvient. — Remove the shoe and poultice ; give a mild aperient, laxative 

 food, preferably grass or lucerne, and when all inflammatory symptoms have 

 passed off, replace the shoe and blister the coronet with a one-to-sixteen 

 biniodide ointment. A turn-out on marshy land, but not a salt marsh, 

 should be obtained if possible, to complete the cure. 



TREAD 



The name describes the cause of an injury often met with in heavy 

 horses who tread themselves while turning in harness, or are trodden upon 

 by their fellows when harnessed side by side. It happens also to other 

 classes of horses when, from fatigue or debility, slippery roads or shoes 

 that have been "roughed," a false step is made. The amount of injury 

 done may be so slight as to be amenable to a dressing or two with Friar's 

 balsam or tincture of myrrh ; or it may be so severe as to cause death of 

 the skin ; injury to the coronary secreting substance, and eventually quitter. 

 Fomentation and efficient poulticing in the first instance may prevent the 

 more serious consequences, but if a slough begins to show it must be 

 patiently poulticed until it detaches itself from the living parts. This 

 process is sometimes facilitated by a mild fly-blister. 



