1086 DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 



For the time being, corn should be completely withdrawn ; in summer 

 grass can be given ; in whiter, hay and bran-mashes. 



It is now well recognised that, from the outset of the attack, 

 exercise is useful, particularly in rheumatic laminitis. Sometimes 

 the lameness occurs whilst resting during a journey ; and if the animal 

 be started again, and pushed until it perspires freely, being afterwards 

 carefully guarded against chill, it may completely recover. But, 

 apart from the severe pain inseparable from this method of treatment, 

 it may end in aggravation of the condition. The experiments made 

 in the British army do not altogether recommend the treatment, 

 though, under some circumstances, for example during field 

 manoeuvres, it may be useful. 



Most cases after recovery are benefited by a rest of six weeks 

 to two months in a strawyard or on grass, and before turning the 

 animal out, the coronets should be blistered and the feet shod with 

 light bar-shoes. 



In chronic laminitis, the hoofs should be trimmed, shod with 

 bar-shoes and leather soles, and the coronets blistered once or twice. 

 To diminish the chronic congestion of the feet, ligation of the digital 

 artery on one side of the limb has been recommended. The treatment 

 of dropped sole and pumiced-foot pertains to the province of shoeing, 

 and although the form of hoof may be improved, yet the animal's 

 usefulness is never completely restored. As soon as acute inflammatory 

 symptoms have disappeared, it is best to apply shoes with thick 

 heels, and to promote the growth of the heels of the hoof as much 

 as possible. (For fuller information on this point the reader is referred 

 to Dollar and Wheatley's lt Horse-shoeing and the Horse's Foot.") 



VII.— KERATOMA. 



The horn forming the laminal sheath and horny laminae may 

 become thickened, producing a tumour which is known as kera- 

 phyllocele, or keratoma. The growth is compact, semicylindrical, 

 from | inch to § inch in thickness, and when fully formed may be 

 pyramidal or conical with the base resting on the white line and the 

 summit extending upwards, sometimes as far as the coronary border 

 of the hoof. The upper extremity may be bifid, and occasionally 

 the borders of the growth are irregular, constricted at certain points, 

 and expanded at others. The base may be solid or fistulous, the 

 channel limited to a short sinus, or extending through the whole 

 length of the growth and opening on the surface of the adjoining 

 sensitive laminae, from which a watery exudate passes down the 



