FALSE QUARTER. 237 



manner as destruction of the substance at the root of our 

 nails occasions a division in it, so will injury of the coro- 

 nary substance cause a groove in the hoof directly below ; 

 to which absence of horn the name of false quarter has 

 been given. This is not, therefore, in itself, a disease ; but 

 the effect of disease; or, possibly, of simple injury. Its 

 appearance is that of a gap on the side of the wall, extend- 

 ing from the coronet to the ground surface. The gap is 

 covered with a thin layer of soft horn secreted by the sensi- 

 tive lamina, but the strong protective armour derived from 

 the coronet is lost for ever. Either f»^om the weight im- 

 posed, or the jar sustained, the thin horn occasionally splits, 

 and the internal parts bleed. From dirt getting into the 

 opening, or from the soft parts protruding and being 

 squeezed between the divided horn, inflammation may be 

 excited, and pus ooze through the fissure. Under such 

 circumstances, lameness will exist, though, so long as the 

 fissure remains undisturbed, the animal betrays no incon- 

 venience from it. 



A Remedy for false quarter, at least a radical one, is not to be found. 

 When once a division of any sort has taken place in the coronary sub- 

 stance, no human art can restore the perfect secretion of horn. There 

 will always be a separation in the horny fibres. A false quarter, there- 

 fore, not only renders the horse subject to occasional lameness, but con- 

 siderably weakens that side of the hoof, so that it becomes unable to 

 support its due share of the burthen. 



Palliation. — Though this be an evil which does not admit of cure^ 

 it is one we may palliate. By imposing as little weight as possible upon 

 the weak quarter ; and by defending it to any practicable extent from 

 concussion, we may accomplish something, and are at liberty to devise 

 any means adapted to these ends. Up to the present we have not hit 

 ou any better expedient than was practised by our professional fore- 

 fathers. James Clark tells us, " we may palliate the complaint so as to 

 render the horse something useful, by using a shoe of such a construction 

 as will support the weiglit of the limb without resting or pressing too much 

 upon the iveakened quarter ; for which purpose a round, or what is called 

 a bar- shoe, will be most proper. The surface of the hoof on or near the 

 diseased part may be lowered ; or, if the hoof will not admit of being 

 cut away, the shoe may be curved from the weak quarter." Should the 

 hoof on either side of the fissure grow stronger, and become more pro- 



