194 TREATMEN^f: DISCRIMINATION NECESSARY. STRAINS. 



is but another name for the same kind of corn when situated close to the bar 

 of the fn»g, a little farther back in the hollow of the sole. Pain, very acute on 

 ihe touch ; or, when the horse treads on a hard substance, he issues a moan, 

 or grunt : it is that sound in which his voice is aptly likened to the complaint 

 of the human sufferer. 



Cure. — Although oftentimes very troublesome, returning again and again 

 when the farrier apprehends he has cured it radically, yet no affection is easi- 

 er of a partial remedy, or effected by more ordinary means. Deceived by the 

 name, perhaps, resembling the hard excrescence called a corn, on the human 

 foot, they proceed at once to " pare the corn out to the quick, till the blood 

 starts;" but they heedlessly put on the same shoe upon the same thick heel 

 and hard hoof which first brought about the malady, and the lameness returns. 

 Let the heel of the shoe be cut off on the side that is afflicted, or if both sides 

 have corns, a bar shoe is recommended as giving pressure to the frog. The 

 heels are then to be rasped away free from any contact with the shoe ; if they 

 are thick and hard, this v^'ill give them play — if thin and tender, they will thus 

 be freed from pressure. The thick heel is most commonly affected, and should 

 be softened by an extensive poultice that is to cover the whole foot, after the 

 corn has been pared and treated with butter of antimony. Tar is then a very 

 desirable application, or Friar's balsam; and if inflammation is again discover- 

 ed, poultice the foot once more. Fire is applied by some, but thehoof is perma- 

 nently injured by the actual cautery ; and whatever good is achieved is thus 

 counterbalanced by the evil. Vitriolic acid mixed, carefully, with tar, in the 

 proportion of one-tenth of the former to nine-tenths of the latter, will promote 

 the absorption upon which the cure depends. 



But in some desperate bad cases, the matter has already formed within, most 

 offensively, and discharges at the coronet by means of that curious process of 

 nature which I described at a preceding page, as affording the coronet the 

 material for forming new horn to supply the wear and tear of the hoof. Upon 

 paring away the horny sole, which now becomes necessary, the offensive mat- 

 ter will be found to have spread itself underneath the sensible sole, which will 

 ooze forth and give immediate relief to the coronet. Let so much of the horny 

 sole as lies loose from the sensible sole be pared away, and a dressing of tar, 

 or of Friar's balsam, be applied as before directed ; and if inflammation is again 

 discovered, apply a poultice ; should the growth of horn be found too luxuriant, 

 discontinue the tar. 



CHAPTER V. 



Of Strains Generally. 



STRAIN OF THE COFFIN-JOINT. 



Cause. — As previously observed, lameness of the foot does not consist in a 

 strain of the joint within the hoof, but is refcrrible to general concussion of 

 all the parts, and is rather a strain of the back sinew at its conjunction with 

 thebotton? of the coffin-bone. Inflammation and accelerated circulation fol- 

 low, and numbness of the foot succeeds : these, if not remedied betimes, arc 

 followed by ossification of the tendon, of the ligament of the small pastern, and 

 Jie cartilaginous process at (/), fig. 3, plate 2, also becomes bone. That the 

 ioint of the coffin-bone with the pastern-bone may be strained, is very pro- 

 bable; but no injury, blow, or concussion, can affect it, which does nM at the 



