QUITTOR 379 



or bruise from other causes; or it may result from a stab from a sharp 

 instrument; or from injury to the sensitive parts of the foot at the sole, 

 as from pricks in shoeing, festering corns, or bruises on the sole, or any 

 other accident, followed by the formation of matter (suppuration) under 

 the horny hoof. It is sometimes induced by frost-bites in the winter, 

 the matter following the inflammation 

 so produced burrowing into the deeper 

 tissues of the coronet. 



The parts affected in quittor are the 

 skin and underlying tissue (cutaneous 

 quittor), or it may extend to the liga- 

 ments so called (tendinous quittor), or 

 deeper still, to the gristle (cartilaginous quit- 

 tor), or it may penetrate under the horny 

 foot (sub-horny quittor), and even to the 

 bone itself and the joints. It most fre- 

 quently attacks the heels and extends for- 

 wards to the quarters, and even to the front pig. 397.-Qmttor 

 of the coronet, or it may commence at the 



latter and extend in a backward direction. Heavy horses are more often 

 affected than the lighter breeds, but this is only because they are more 

 exposed to injuries of the coronet. Moreover, it is generally the inner 

 side of the foot that is affected, probably because corns, which are common 

 causes of the malady, are most frequently found there, and the animal 

 is more likely to -tread on the inner side of the foot than on the outer. 



The principal symptom is a hot and painful swelling on the coronet, 

 usually on the bulb of the heel, where matter forms (abscess), and finally 

 bursts through the skin just above the hoof. If the wound is probed 

 we shall probably find channels (sinuses), running in more than one 

 direction, usually, however, downward behind the coronary band at the 

 top of the hoof; others may pass horizontally round the coronet either 

 in a forward or backward direction. These latter frequently form fresh 

 centres of suppurative inflammation, the skin either just in front of or a 

 little behind the original wound swells, forms matter, and breaks, forming 

 a second wound; and this may go on until there are several wounds on 

 the skin, leading by narrow canals (sinuses) to one another, and so forming 

 a net-work of channels in the tissues of the foot. As may be imagined, 

 this gathering and channelling process is a very painful one, and makes 

 the animal very lame, so much so in some cases that the limb is con- 

 stantly being lifted from the ground in an uneasy manner. From the 

 wounds a more or less copious purulent discharge flows, which is most 



