988 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



which jt gradually sinks from a concave to a convex surface, drawing with it the front of the hoof inwards. 

 In weak, broad, heavy feet, this evil comes on sometimes without founder ; the treatment can be only 

 palliative, a wide- webbed shoe exactly fitted to the foot, without at all pressing on it, prevents the lame- 

 ness consequent to the disease. A shoe exactly the contrary to this has been tried in some cases with 

 benefit, the form of which has been one with a web so narrow as only to cover the crust, but so thick as 

 to remove the feet from accidental pressure. In other cases, no shoe answers so well as a strong bar 

 shoe. (6()01 ) 



6522. Corns are most troublesome ailments, to which horses are very liable, and which injure and ruin 

 thousands. They are wholly accidental ; no horse having any peculiar tendency to them, but being always 

 brouglit on them by some improper pressure, usually of the shoe, or from something getting in between 

 tthe shoe and the horny heel. A shoe too long worn is a very common cause, and a still more frequent 

 'tliie is the cluWt>ing the heels of the shoe; neither is it necessary to the production of corns, that the 

 shoe itself should press on the sole ; but they are equally produced when the outer horn of the heels or 

 of the bars is the immediate offending part, rendered so by too luxuriant growth, by unequal wear, or 

 by secondary pressure from the shoe, or by gravel working in. {fig. 836.) It is the fleshy sole itself that is 

 bruised, from which a speck of extravasated blood follows ; and if not immediately relieved, it gathers, 

 or the part becomes habitually defectivCj and instead of forming healthy horn, it always afterwards forms 

 a sjMjngy substance of extreme sensibihty, and thus is always liable to produce pain and lameness when 

 exposed to pressure. 



65-23. T/ie treatment of corns is seldom difficult or unsuccessful at their first appearance, but afterwards 

 it can be only palliative. Blaine directs that, by means of a fine drawing-knife, every portion of diseased 

 horn should be pared away, and the extravasation underneath likewise. Having done this, he advises to 

 introduce some butter of antimony into the opening, to place over this some tow, which should be kept in 

 its place by means of a splint. If any contraction of the heels {fig. 836. a a) be present, it will materially 

 assi-t the cure to lower them, and to thin the hoof a little around the quarters, and afterwards to put on 

 a shoe without heels oi)posed to the corn, or a shoe chambered opposite the weak part ; or a bar shoe may 

 be applied, so framed as completely to leave the heel untouched. Introduce the butter of antimony once 

 or twice more, with the interval of two days between, and then turn the horse out to grass : in about six 

 weeks' time the foot will be sound. The treatment of corns, when of long standing, does not materially 

 differ; for although they are never wholly eradicated, they may be rendered but little troublesome. The 

 diseased part must be carefully pared out at each shoeing, and such a shoe put on as will completely free 

 the heel from pressure. 



&5'i.^. RnnniKg thrush is ahvif/s a dangerous disease^ and few errors in horse management are more 

 glaring than the common one of supposing they are necessary to carry off" humours. If less food, more 

 exercise, cool stables, and dry standings, were substituted to correct the fulness, instead of thrushes, 

 which invariably contract the feet whenever they continue any length of time, many valuable horses 

 would be saved to the community. To the cure, begin by clearing out all the fissures of the frog 

 {Jig. 836. na) from loose ragged horn, and then introduce to the bottom of the sinuses, by means of a thin 

 jMcce of wood, some of the thrush paste {Vet. Pharm. 65.54.), smeared on tow, which will enable it to be 

 held within the cleft, especially if it be guarded by splints of wood passed under the shoe ; renew the 

 dressing daily : turning out to grass may be practised to great advantage for thrushes by this mode of 

 liressing ; but without it the disease is sometimes aggravated. 



6.1!25. Sandcracks are fissurrs in the hoofs, commonly of those before, and usually towards the inner, but 

 now and then towards the outer quarter also, from above downwards : from the crack, a little oozing of 

 blood or moisture is seen ; and the sensible parts underneath getting between the edges of horn, become 

 pressed on and lame the horse. Fire the fissure crossways, so as to destroy the connection between the 

 iivided and the undivided parts of the hoof. With melted pitch close up the origin if the oozing be 

 moderate, and bandage tightly. Watch the foot, and if inflammation succeed this plan, remove the 

 dressing. 



6526. Pricks or punctures in the feet are often very serious evils, either when received by nails in shoeing, 

 or by one picked up on the road, &c. The danger arises from the inflammation, which is always great from 

 any injury done to the sensible and vascular parts within the foot. This inflammation quickly proceeds 

 to suppuration ; and the matter is apt to make its way upwards, unless it find a ready vent below. When 

 it does not break out at the coronet, it will often penetrate under the sole, and finally disease the bones, 

 ligaments, or cartilages, and produce quittor. It is very seldom that a horse is pricked in shoeing, but 

 that the smith is aware of it by the peculiarity of the feel on the hammer, and by the flinching of the 

 animal. At such times were he to immediately withdraw the nail a little, enlarge the opening, and intro- 

 duce some spirit within the puncture, nothing would occur ; but on the contrary, he sends the horse home 

 to avoid trouble, who, the next or following day, is found lame, and with his foot hot. If the nail be 

 only driven too near the sensible laminae, it will only require to be removed, to free the horse from his 

 evil ; but if it have been driven through, and have wounded them, then suppuration ensues, and on exa- 

 mining the foot by the pincers when the shoe is removed, he will flinch at the pressure on the diseased 

 part It is probable, on the removal of the shoe, that matter will at once flow out at the immediate nail 

 hole ; if not, the drawing-knife will soon detect the injury. If the heat be great, and instead of matter 

 bloody dark ichor flows out, wrap the foot up in a poultice; but if healthy matter flows out, this will not 

 be necessary : sometimes it is requisite to detach all the horn that is underrun by the matter; but when 

 the injury has not proceeded to this extent, apply over the part a pledget of tow steeped in friar's balsam ; 

 tack on the shoe lightly, and retain the dressing by means of splints, which are thin pieces of wood (the 

 withy which binds birch brooms is convenient for the purpose) passed under the shoe ; repeat the dressing 

 daily, and avoid moisture, which would encourage quittor. A nail picked up on the road, and which 

 passes througii the sole, below or through the frog, is to be treated in the same manner, and also when the 

 matter breaks out at the coronet; but when a nail is picked up, and penetrates the coffin joint, which is 

 known by the synovia or joint oil appearing, such opening should be immediately stopped by paring 

 towards the wounded joint, and then applying a heated budding-iron, not to the capsular ligament itself, 

 but to the skin immediately near it ; if this be inconvenient, put a pledget dipped in a little butter of anti- 

 mony just within the opening, but do not press it into the cavity of the joint : if this be insufficient to 

 stop the flow, but more particularly if the original wound penetrated to the bone, it is probable that the 

 bone itself will become, in some measure, diseased, which is known by the rough grating felt at the point 

 of the probe when passed. In this case, enlarge the opening so as to be able to scrape the diseased bone 

 away. Bruises of the sole, from whatever cause, will all fall under some of these points of view, according 

 as the case may be. 



6527. Quittor and canker are the consequences of these injuries when neglected, or originally extensive. 

 In these cases either the bones, ligaments, or cartilages, or all, become diseased ; and a cure can only be 

 obtained by removing the diseased i)arts by the knife or by caustic. 



6528. Treads., over-reach, 8fc. A wound on the coronet is not uncommon from one foot being placed on 

 the other ; or the hinder foot may strike it, &c. First wipe away the dirt, and remove any loose edges 

 that cannot unite : avoid washing, unless stones and dirt are suspected to be within, and bind up, having 

 first placed over the wpund a pledget of lint or tow moistened with balsamic tincture, or tincture of 

 myrrh, or of aloes, &c. Over-reaching, or overstepping, is often an injury done to the fetlock joint 

 before, by the hinder foot, or to the back sinew higher up. Sometimes it is simply a violent bruise, at 

 others the laceration is extensive, in which cases treat as a tread ; and when no laceration has taken place 

 treat as a bruise or strain. 



6529. Cutting is a defect to which some horses are liablo from their form, as when they turn their toes 



