1 34 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



CANKER, 



Unlike seedy toe, is mostly met with in the low 

 breed of horses, heavy cart and dray horses being 

 most subject to it. By some writers it is con- 

 sidered of an hereditary nature, but I am inclined 

 to look upon it as upon thrush, which is in itself 

 almost always the true cause of canker; and as 

 thrush is the offspring of neglect of the foot and 

 bad shoeing, so is canker the offspring of a neg- 

 lected thrush ; or, I may say, thrush is the 

 primary cause, and canker the secondary. Still 

 there are cases where the canker is caused by 

 puncture, bruise, corn, or quitter, yet it is mostly 

 thrush that is its primary cause. Canker consists 

 of a separation of the horny substance from the 

 sensible fleshy and bony portion of the foot, 

 caused by the growth of fungus matter shooting 

 up and occupying parts of, or the entire sole of 

 the foot and frog. The cause of this disease, 

 like many others incidental to the cart horse, is 

 negligence in the master and groom and the 

 shoeing smith combined. The chief cause of 

 canker is produced by ponderous heavy shoes 

 with which they are shod, and the large nails 

 with which they are necessarily attached to the 

 foot ; these produce contraction, which produces 

 thrush, and thrush produces canker. Thus neg- 

 lect is the primary cause of nine-tenths of the 

 so-called hereditary diseases of the foot. The 

 dirty state of the stables and the neglect of the 

 feet are a fertile source of this complaint. Clean- 

 liness and attention to the horse's feet are a pre- 



