CORNS. 399 



stronger construction than the inside one. The method adopted by shoeing- 

 smiths to ascertain the existence of corn by the pain evinced when they 

 pinch the bar and crust with their irons, is very fallacious. If the horn is natu- 

 rally thin, the horse will shrink under no great pressure although he has no corn, 

 and occasionally the bars are so strong as not to give way under any pressure. 



The cure of old corns is difficult ; for as all shoeing has some tendency to 

 produce pressure here, the habit of throwing out this diseased horn is difficult 

 to get rid of when once contracted ; recent corns, however, will yield to good 

 shoeing. 



The first thing to be done is well to pare out the angle between the crust and 

 the bars. Two objects are answered by this : the extent of the disease will be 

 ascertained, and one cause of it removed. A very small drawing-knife must be 

 used for this purpose. The corn must be pared out to the very bottom, taking 

 care not to wound the sole. It may then be discovered whether there is any 

 effusion of blood or matter underneath. If this is suspected, an opening must 

 be made through the horn, the matter evacuated, the separated horn taken 

 away, the course and extent of the sinuses explored, and the treatment recom- 

 mended for quittor adopted. Should there be no collection of fluid, the butyr of 

 antimony should be applied over the whole extent of the corn, after the horn has 

 been thinned as closely as possible. The object of this is to stimulate the sole to 

 throw out more healthy horn. In bad cases a bar-shoe may be put on, so cham- 

 bered, that there shall be no pressure on the diseased part. This may be 

 worn for one or two shoeings, but not constantly, for there are few frogs that 

 would bear the constant pressure of the bar-shoe ; and the want of pressure on 

 the heel, generally occasioned by their use, would produce a softened and 

 bulbous state of the heels, that would of itself be an inevitable source of lameness. 



Mr. Turner is in the habit of using a shoe that promises to lessen to a very 

 material degree the sufferings of the horse. The ground surface of the shoe is 

 so bevelled off, that it does not come into contact with the ground, and thus 

 much concussion is saved to the horse. A slight space, however, should be left 

 between the heel of the foot, and that of the shoe ; and which cannot be better 

 occupied than by the leather sole, preventing the insinuation of foreign bodies, 

 and yet preserving the heel from concussion. 



In unusually troublesome cases of corns, recourse should be had to the bar-shoe. 



Mr. Spooner, of Southampton, very properly states, that the corns occasion- 

 ally fester, and the purulent matter which is secreted, having no dependent 

 orifice, ascends, torturing the animal to a dreadful extent, and breaks out at 

 the coronet. These cases are very troublesome. Sinuses are formed, and the 

 evil may end in quittor. A large and free dependent orifice must then be 

 made, and a poultice applied ; to which should succeed a solution of sulphate 

 of zinc, with the application of the compound tar ointment. 



The cause of corn is a most important subject of inquiry, and which a care- 

 ful examination of the foot and the shoe will easily discover. The cause being 

 ascertained, the effect may, to a great extent, be afterwards removed. Turning 

 out to grass, after the horn is a little grown, first with a bar-shoe, and afterwards 

 with the shoe fettered on one side, or with tips, will often be serviceable. A 

 horse that has once had corns to any considerable extent should, at every 

 shoeing, have the seat of corn well pared out, and the butyr of antimony ap- 

 plied. The seated shoe (hereafter to be described) should be used, with a web 

 sufficiently thick to cover the place of corn, and extending as far back as it can 

 be made to do without injury to the frog. 



Low weak heels should be rarely touched with the knife, or anything more 

 be done to them than lightly to rasp them, in order to give them a level surface. 

 The inner heel should be particularly spared. Corns are seldom found in the 



