SEEDY TOE 



369 



Although termed seedy toe, the disease is not confined to the part 

 indicated, but is frequently found to exist in the quarters, and sometimes 

 to extend round the hoof from one part to the other. 



In its more limited form it presents a superficial hollow in the toe, 

 but it may extend upward to any height towards the coronet. It is 

 not confined to any particular description of hoof. Horses with strong 

 feet as well as others whose feet are weak are alike affected by it. An 

 attack of laminitis imparts a special predisposition to it. 



Lameness may not exist until the disease has made considerable 

 advance, and it is in consequence frequently found when not suspected. 



Fig. 391. Seedy Toe. Vertical and transverse sections of foot, showing the horn fibres (a) 

 separated from the horn laminae (6). 



Save in exceptional cases, it is amenable to treatment, although frequently 

 demanding a long period of rest. 



Causes. Various causes have been assigned for this morbid condition 

 of the hoof horn. By some it has been referred to injury done by the 

 clip of the shoe. By others to " long-continued strain on the feet which 

 was not sufficient to produce actual laminitis ", and to the " weight-bearing 

 surface of the foot being limited to the wall by bad shoeing"; while 

 others again regard it as the result of the repeated application of excessive 

 heat in the fitting of the shoe. Injury inflicted upon the horn-secreting 

 structures of the crust by blows applied to the coronet has also been 

 thought by some to be a sufficient cause. This, however, has been 

 objected to on account of the disintegrated horn never being found at 

 the coronet, or in any part of the crust, excepting when associated with 

 a hole in the toe, from which it has been concluded that the disease 

 commences below and extends upwards. It appears to us that no ex- 



VOL. II. 



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