CORN 375 



affected, are, nevertheless, liable to attack. As to shoeing, excessive 

 paring of the sole, removal of the bars, and undue lowering of the heels, 

 all tend to weaken the part and expose it to injury. Shoes, when made 

 too short and narrow at the heels, if insecurely nailed to the foot, or 

 worn too long, are liable to displacement, and by becoming embedded 

 within the crust occasion a bruise to the sole. 



After one or two attacks of corn, predisposition to the malady is 

 very much increased, and some horses are seldom entirely free from it. 

 These chronic cases are chiefly due to a diseased and asperous condition 

 of the heels of the coffin-bone, resulting from former attacks, which 

 irritate or injure the sensitive structures on which they rest. 



Symptoms. - - The actual existence of a corn is only made known 

 after a portion of horn has been removed from the sole, in the angle 

 between the bar and the crust, when a red spot varying in size from a 

 pea to a sixpence will be found. The quantity of horn necessary to be 

 taken away will depend on the time the corn has been in existence, i.e. 

 whether it is an old corn or a recent one. In the former case the dis- 

 coloration will be near the surface, and readily exposed and quickly 

 " pared out". In the latter it will be deep down, near to the sensitive 

 foot, and a considerable amount of horn may require to be removed 

 before it is brought into view. The farther a corn is away from the 

 surface the more recent it is, and the more likely it is to be a cause of 

 lameness. Sometimes in paring a corn a quantity of dark-looking fluid 

 escapes from between the horny and sensitive sole; it is then said to 

 be a " suppurating" corn. Other symptoms of the disease are heat, 

 especially over the inner quarter, tenderness to pressure, and lameness. 



During progression the animal's step is short, and the foot is brought 

 to the ground with the bearing specially on the outer side. In severe 

 examples of suppurating corn the leg sometimes becomes swollen as high 

 as the fetlock, or even the knee, and evinces considerable pain to pres- 

 sure. In such cases the lameness is frequently referred to the leg, while 

 the corn is altogether overlooked, until attention is directed to the for- 

 mation of an abscess at the coronet, through which the matter in the 

 foot escapes. This condition is known as a quittor. 



Treatment. A mild dose of physic is a good preliminary to the 

 local treatment of corn. The foot will require to be carefully pared over 

 the seat of injury, and should it be found to contain " matter", free vent 

 must be given to it. The foot should then be put into a pail of 

 warm carbolized water for half an hour, and afterwards transferred to a 

 hot poultice of linseed-meal and bran. Before the poultice is applied, 

 the corn should be dressed with a solution of carbolic acid, and covered 



