250 Common Diseases of the Horse 



detached. The matter generally advances towards the front of th<; 

 foot, and when this happens there is a danger of the coffin joint 

 being attacked, eventually causing "open joint"; or the coffin bone 

 itself may be attacked. Necrosis or death of portions of this bone 

 ensue, and more matter forms, all of which contributes to the dis- 

 charge through the various channels. 



Symptoms. — With the discharge there is swelling round the 

 coronet, which may reach to the fetlock joint and the back tendons. 

 There may or may not be lameness. Sometimes the horse i:> 

 noticed to be lame, an abscess appears at the heel, and he becomes 

 temporarily sound. 



Treatment. — First remove the shoe and examine the foot. An 

 old suppurating corn, or a " prick ", may be discovered, in which 

 event every effort should be made to encourage the abscess to drain 

 from below through the openings. If this is not possible the disease 

 has to be attacked from the top. Each sinus requires careful prob- 

 ing to discover its direction and extent, and a decision made as to 

 whether they should be treated by injection or by a surgical operation. 



If the quittor has not been long in existence, and there are only 

 one or two sinuses, injections two or three times daily of a 10 per 

 cent solution of perchloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) and 

 alcohol may effect a cure. If improvement does not quickly result, 

 then by far the better method is to resort to a surgical operation. 



This operation consists in exposing the diseased parts, and 

 giving free drainage to the matter. To do this it is necessary to 

 remove a window of horn in the wall of the hoof embracing the 

 limits of the quittor, and afterwards to turn back a flap of skin on 

 the coronet, making a connection by means of a knife between the 

 two parts underneath the coronary band. In this manner the 

 diseased parts will be exposed. They may then be removed, the 

 parts dressed with iodoform one part and boracic acid three parts. 

 A bandage should then be applied, and the wound treated with 

 ordinary antiseptic precautions. It should be dressed daily. 



Another method is known as the " coring out " process, and 

 consists in plugging the sinus as deeply as it may be with a little 

 perchloride of mercury powder enclosed in tissue paper, and after- 

 wards applying a bandage and leaving this in position for forty- 

 eight hours. After this time one is able to detach a fairly large 

 core of dead tissue, which may embrace most of the diseased 

 portions. In any case it exposes them more freely. The wound 

 may afterwards be treated in the ordinary manner. The reader 

 does not require to be told that any of the above operations need 

 a veterinarian to perform them. 



