54 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



HORSE, ftUITTOR.— We have spoken 

 of a limited suppuration with sinuses be- 

 tween the hoof and the coffin-bone as the 

 result of injury to the coronet, the prick 

 of a nail, or a bruise, which form an ab- 

 scess at the crown of the foot. To cer- 

 tain abscesses in this region, resulting 

 from an ulceration of the deeper-seated 

 cartilages, the term quittor has been ap- 

 plied. The local condition on which this 

 disease depends differs widely from that 

 causing a similar discharge in a healthy 

 foot by direct injury. Quittor is a deep- 

 seated lesion of the foot, seated in the 

 cartilages, or perhaps even in the coffin- 

 bone itself. It may follow the inflamma- 

 tion of injury, or it may originate in con- 

 stitutional conditions. Neglected corns, 

 increasing by continued bruising, may 

 cause by pressure the ulceration and mor- 

 tification of the cartilage, or even of the 

 bone. Fracture of some part of the 

 coffin-bone may eventuate in this disease. 

 It rarely gets well without assistance. 

 When it is diagnosticated, a well-informed 

 veterinary surgeon should be called. The 

 treatment is mainly by local injections, 

 aiding nature to discharge the product of 

 ulceration and stimulating to healthy gran- 

 ulations. Of course the animal is utterly 

 unfit for use. 



HORSE, CORNS.— We have spoken 

 Of corns. These make their appearance 

 in two forms, the true and the false. The 

 locality of the true corn is the angle 

 caused by the inflection of the bars, and 

 is between the bars and wall. In this 

 space the posterior extremities of the cof- 

 fin-bone move freely in the move- 

 ments of the foot. By the irritation of 

 frequent, prolonged and severe use a 

 thickening of the laminae is produced. 

 This hardness ultimately becomes a semi- 

 corneous tumor. It may remain in this 

 condition, or it may become a smooth, 

 dense horn, more dense than any part of 

 the hoof. It is a constant source of pain 

 and consequent lameness. 



The more common false corn is a bruise 

 of the sensitive sole which lies directly 

 under the heel of the coffin-bone. This 

 occurs more frequently in feet having a 

 fiat, level sole, deficient in the arch. It 

 may occur in any variety of foot which is 

 kept badly shod. A shoe with a broad 

 web level upon its foot-surface, and seated 

 for its whole width upon the wall and 



sole, will aid in the production of this- 

 form of disease. Several varieties of the 

 false corn are described, but they are 

 simply different stages of the same dis- 

 ease. The true corn is essentially in- 

 curable. For the false, in its early stages, 

 the general principles of treatment to 

 abate local inflammation may arrest the 

 disease. If suppuration can be prevent- 

 ed, the duration of lameness will be much 

 limited. Care should be taken that the. 

 shoe should have its bearing only on the. 

 solar border of the wall, and a very slight. 

 portion of the outer border of the sole. 

 To this end, a shoe should be used with a. 

 narrow web, but little over half an inch 

 in width ; or the shoe with a wider web 

 should be seated so that its bearing-sur- 

 face would be narrow. Supposing the; 

 case has been neglected and suppuration 

 has occurred, the pain and lameness will, 

 be great until the matter is evacuated. 

 The sole must be carefully pared away 

 until the horn is very thin, when an open- 

 ing must be made through it, and the pus 

 evacuated. If great pain is inflicted by 

 the attempt, the foot should be soaked in 

 a warm alkaline bath, by which the horn 

 will be softened and the extreme tender- 

 ness abated. If possible, the foot should 

 be kept in a poultice for a day or two, or 

 three, according to the previous severity 

 of the disease. After that the shoe may 

 be reapplied, care being taken that the 

 opening through the horn be so protected, 

 that no dirt or gravel can enter. 



A condition similar to false corn may 

 exhibit itself in any portion of the ground 

 surface of the foot as a result of a severe 

 stone-bruise. If detected early, the warm 

 foot-bath, with rest, will be sufficient treat- 

 ment for it. 



HORSE, THRUSH.— One of the most 

 common of the diseases of the foot bears 

 the popular name of thrush. Of its ex- 

 act nature and locality perhaps no two 

 hippopathologists agree. Mayhew, Youatt, 

 Spooner, and others characterize the dis- 

 ease by one of its symptoms, and speak 

 of it as " an offensive discharge from the 

 cleft of the frog," to which is sometimes 

 added "with disorganization of the 

 horn." Both these are symptoms of the 

 real disease, which is a low form of in- 

 flammation in the soft tissues of a tender 

 frog. It exists in feet that have been al- 

 lowed to stand in damp, ill-cleaned stalls,. 



