THE HORSE. GO 



or excrescence upon the coronet, chiefly of the fore 

 feet, between hair and hoof, most frequently on the 

 inside quarter of the foot. If we except the founder, 

 the inveterate quittor is the most desperate, hopeless, 

 and painful of the numerous maladies which affect 

 the feet of the horse. Its common cause is the as- 

 cent of some foreign body or morbid material from 

 the tread or sole upwards ; such as a nail, a quantity 

 of gravel, or the extravasated matter of a bruise or 

 corn, which could find no vent below, but forcing 

 its way upward, between the quarter and the coffin 

 bone, work a passage to the coronet, by destroying 

 the foliated substance and corrupting all the adjacent 

 parts. It is obvious no palliatives can succeed in this 

 case, and the radical operation should be entrusted to 

 none but truly scientific and practical artists. Yet 

 after the best cure, it is probable a false quarter must 

 remain, which always renders a saddle horse unsafe, 

 more especially in constant or hard work. A super- 

 ficial quittor, originating above, by which the cartilage 

 is untouched, or a mere wound or ulcer in the coronet, 

 taken timely is easily remedied. Grog and foun- 

 der are surely not imaginary diseases, but equivocal 

 in respect to terminology. If a horse go stiff and 

 blundering, without any marked and visible cause, 

 he is said to be groggy ; if he cannot go at all, foun- 

 dered. Grogginess, termed by the Italians, sobati- 

 tura, with us surbating, arises from the hoofs being 

 battered by the hard road, from inflammation, swell- 

 ing of the legs, and contraction of the sinews. Some 

 horses are peculiarly liable to this contraction, instead 

 of the more usual laxity and debility in those parts . 



