QUITTOR 601 



FALSE QUARTER 



When, from an accident, the coi'onary substance is permanently injured, 

 it ceases to secrete sound horn, and a strip of the crust, defective in strength, 

 runs all the way down from the coronet to the plantar edge. This generally 

 happens at the inner quarter, and is owing to the horse treading on his 

 coronet ; but it may also occur on the outside, either from the tread of 

 another horse, or from some kind of extei'nal violence. The result is 

 similar to that of a sandcrack ; there is no strength in the affected heel, and 

 lameness is produced. 



The Treatment is very much the same as for sandcrack. In the first 

 place, the pressure must be taken off the quarter, and a bar shoe applied, 

 so as to convey the weight on the frog, as described under the head of 

 Sandcrack. The heel of the affected quarter should be lowered, and thus 

 further injury will be prevented. The next thing to be done is to stimulate 

 the coronet to a healthy action by blistering it, which must be done two 

 or three times, taking care that the blister is not of too violent a nature, 

 and that the skin heals before a second is applied. By these means, a cure 

 may sometimes be effected ; but it takes a considerable time, and until the 

 quarter is reproduced in full strength, or nearly so, the bar shoe should be 

 continued. By its use, any horse with a sound frog can travel very well 

 on the road, even if the quarter is entirely and pei'manently separated from 

 the toe by inefficient horn ; and without it, the chance of a cure is not to 

 be reckoned on. 



QUITTOR 



By this term is understood a chronic abscess of the foot, the matter 

 always forming sinuses, from the difficulty which Nature has to overcome 

 in finding a way for it to reach the surface. Generally, the mischief is 

 occasioned by an overreach, or a bruise of the sole, or by the inflammation 

 resulting from a neglected corn, or from a nail-prick. From any of these 

 causes, inflammation of the delicate investment of tlie coffin-bone is set up, 

 pus is secreted, and, in working its way to the surface, it burrows between 

 the horn and the bone, and forms one or more sinuses, or pipes, as these 

 fistulous tubes are called by the farrier. A quitter is recognized by the eye 

 arid nose detecting an opening in the horn, from which a foul discharge 

 proceeds ; and on introducing a probe, it will generally pass freely in two 

 or three directions, sometimes giving a grating sensation to the finger, show- 

 ing that the bone is denuded, and most probably carious. There is generally 

 a considerable increase of temperature in the foot, and always more or less 

 lameness, with, in most cases, swelling of the bulbous heels and coronet. 

 On examining the sole carefully, some part will either show a difference of 

 colour from the adjacent horn, or there will be a yielding on pressure, owing 

 to its being undermined. 



The Treatment must be conducted on the same principle as for fistulous 

 wounds. In the first place, a dependent opening must be formed, so that no 

 matter shall be confined, but it shall be allowed to come away as fast as it 



