400 THE HORSE. 



crust, defective in strength, runs all the way down from the coro- 

 net to the plantar edge. This generally happens at the inner 

 quarter, and is owing to the horse treading on his coronet; but it 

 may also occur on the outside, either from the tread of another 

 horse, or from some kind of external violence. The result is simi- 

 lar to that of a sandcrack ; there is no strength in the affected heel, 

 and lameness is produced. The treatment is very much the same 

 as for sandcrack. In the first place, the pressure must be taken 

 off the quarter, and a bar-shoe applied, so as to convey the weight 

 on the frog, as described under the head of Sandcrack. The heel 

 of the affected quarter should be lowered, and thus further injury 

 will be prevented. The next thing to be done is to stimulate the 

 coronet to a healthy action by blistering it, which must be done 

 two or three times, taking care that the blister is not of too violent 

 a nature, and that the skin heals before a second is applied. By 

 these means, a cure may sometimes be effected ; but it takes a con- 

 siderable time, and until the quarter is reproduced in full strength, 

 or nearly so, the bar-shoe should be continued. By its use, any 

 horse with a sound frog can travel very well on the road, even if 

 the quarter is entirely and permanently separated from the toe by 

 inefficient horn ; and without it, the chance of a cure is not to be 

 reckoned on. 



QUITTOR. 



BY THIS TERM is UNDERSTOOD a chronic abscess of the foot, 

 the matter always forming sinuses, from the difficulty which nature 

 has to overcome in finding a way for it to reach the surface. 

 Generally, the mischief is occasioned by an overreach, or a bruise 

 of the sole, or by the inflammation resulting from a neglected 

 thrush, or, lastly, from a nail-prick. From any of these causes, 

 inflammation of the delicate investment of the coffin-bone is set up, 

 pus is secreted, and, in working its way to the surface, it burrows 

 between the horn and the bone, and forms one or more sinuses, or 

 pipes, as these fistulous tubes are called by the farrier. A quittor 

 is recognised by the eye and nose detecting an opening in the 

 horn, from which a foul discharge proceeds ; and on introducing a 

 probe, it will generally pass freely in two or three directions, some- 

 times giving a grating sensation to the finger, showing that the 

 bone is denuded, and most probably carious. There is generally 

 a considerable increase of temperature in the foot, and always 

 more or less lameness, with, in most cases, swelling of the bulbous 

 heels and coronet. On examining the sole carefully, some part 

 will either show a difference of color from the adjacent horn, or 

 there will be a yielding on pressure, owing to its being undermined. 

 The treatment must be conducted on the same principle as for 

 fistulous sores. In the first place, a dependent opening must be 



