SEEDY TOE. 493 



shoe the horse, is the most likely person to discover the disease. 

 He finds the horn opposite to the extreme toe, at the line of 

 junction between the wall and sole, so "rotten" that it will no 

 longer sustain the bearing of the shoe, against which it has been 

 firmly pressed through the clinch of the clip ; but, on the con- 

 trary, crumbles away under his thumb, or even under the stroke 

 of his hammer, leaving the outer crust no more than a hollow 

 shell over the decayed part. The clip, in consequence, has no 

 longer any counter-support from the shoe; and if the smith cut 

 away all the rotten or dead horn, it is probable he may have to 

 do this at the expense of considerable excavation of the wall : 

 since, should the case be one of long standing, not only will 

 there exist seediness of toe, but the same decay of horn will be 

 found to have eaten its way up between the outer and inner 

 crusts of the wall, in a direction towards the coronet, creating a 

 hollow large enough, perhaps, to admit the handle of a tea-spoon, 

 though it may be no more than is sufficient to receive a horse- 

 nail; depending, of course, upon the length of standing of the 

 case, as well as upon the progress, rapid or tardy, the decaying 

 process has been making. If we use whatever may be intro- 

 ducible into the hole by way of a probe, to ascertain the extent 

 and direction of the cavern, we shall find the searching process 

 to be attended with an issue of fragmentary dust of horn of the 

 character that has been described. Even supposing the shoe 

 were on at the time that seedy toe was suspected, tapping the 

 front of the wall with the smith's hammer would, by the sound 

 elicited, to a practised ear, pretty surely disclose the under- 

 mined condition of the hoof. 



No Lameness attends seedy toe ; none, at least, so long as 

 the hollowness is not of that extensive and weakening character 

 that portends sinking of the wall, which every now and then is 

 the case. Whenever such ill consequences happen, however, 

 as the descent of the weight of the body, from bend of wall, upon 

 the sole, bulging and pumice of the latter inevitably follow, the 

 same as from the effects of laminitis ; and such results may 

 supervene upon the injudicious removal of the excavated wall. 



The Feet ordinarily affected are the fore; indeed, 



