CHAPTER VII. 



DISEASES OF THE FOOT— CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, TREAT- 

 MENT—PATHOLOGICAL SHOEING— THE MAKING OF 

 PATHOLOGICAL SHOES. 



76. Information in this chapter is for the guidance of the Army 

 horseshoer in his capacity as an assistant to his veterinarian. No 

 treatment herein prescribed should be attempted except when 

 directed by the veterinarian or organization commander. 



77. Pathological shoeing is shoeing for the relief of diseased feet. 

 The bar shoe (PI. XX, fig. 4) is most commonly used because it 

 produces frog pressure, which increases blood circulation and thus 

 assists nature's method of building up diseased tissue. Removing 

 pressure means trimming the bearing surface of the foot in such a 

 way that the shoe can not cause pressure upon diseased parts. 

 (PI. XXII.) 



THRUSH. 



78. Thrush is a diseased condition of the frog, characterized by an 

 offensive discharge and a maceration, or softening, of the horn. 



Causes. — Filth and moisture, particularly when animals stand 

 in stables saturated with urine. It is both a cause and a result of 

 contracted feet: A cause, by reducing the size of the frog and les- 

 sening frog pressure; a result, because the small frog of a badly 

 contracted foot is poor in quality and has a lessened resistance to 

 disease. 



Symptoms. — At first there is simply an increase of moisture in 

 the cleft of the frog, accompanied by an offensive odor. As the 

 maceration proceeds the discharge and odor become more marked, 

 the cleft deepens, the horn spreads, becomes underrun and loosened, 

 and the sensitive structures are exposed. Lameness is usually 

 absent but it may be severe in very badly contracted feet and in 

 mild cases when the animal is traveling over loose stones. 



Treatment. — Dry clean stalls are essential. Pare away all loose 

 imderrun portions of horn, then dry-clean the frog thoroughly 

 Avith oakum and paint wdth strong tincture of iodine; when the 

 iodine dries cover the frog ynXh. a pine tar dressing. The astringent 

 powders, such as birnit alum, three sulphates (equal parts of sul- 



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