218 



Diseases of the Hoof 



860. Diseases of the internal bony structure 

 of the foot have been dealt with in Chapter IX. 

 We will here consider the external diseases of 

 the foot and diseases of the sensitive laminae. 



FORGING, or CLICKING. 



Cause. A horse generally strikes the inner 

 edge of the ground surface of the web of the 

 forefoot with the toe of the hindfoot on the same 

 side, as this foot is raised from the ground, 

 while trotting. This is often due to the walls 

 not being properly pared down or to careless 

 driving or riding. 



Treatment. Rasp the top of the hind-shoes 

 and shorten them. Shoe the forefoot with con- 

 cave shoes. Drive or ride horse carefully and 

 in a collected manner. Pare the walls properly, 

 i.e. shorten the toes if they have grown too long. 



861. STUMBLING. 



Cause. Horse catches toe of shoe on ground 

 as he turns the toe forwards to place foot on 

 ground. Often due to careless driving or riding. 



Treatment. Shorten toe of shoe and make it 

 much thinner than rest of web. Drive or ride 

 horse carefully and in a collected manner. 



862. CONTRACTED HEELS. 



Cause. Result of thrush (Sec. 871) ; going 

 on toe, as is done in navicular disease and 

 certain forms of lameness ; malformation, and 

 generally want of frog pressure, due to erroneous 

 shoeing and the abominable practice of paring 

 away the frog. 



Symptoms. The frog is quite narrow, and 

 not wide and healthy looking, as in P. 1386 ; 

 the heels are quite close together. 



Treatment. If there is thrush, treat accord- 

 ingly. Obtain frog pressure at all costs. Allow 

 full expansion of the heels. 



863. CORNS. A corn in a horse is very 

 different from that in a human being. In the 

 former it is the result of a bruise to the sensitive 

 laminae; in the latter it is the result of inter- 

 mittent pressure on a part of the foot. A corn 

 is a hypertrophy or an abnormal growth of 

 tissue that is not diseased. 



Cause. Horses with weak heels and flat soles 

 are more subject to corns ; bad shoeing ; fast 

 work on hard roads ; stepping on sharp stones, 

 small pebbles, etc. ; small stones working into 

 the heels of the shoe when they are " sprung " ; 

 paring away the bars ; heels of shoe too short ; 

 large calkins ; paring away too much of the 

 walls at the heels. 



Symptoms. Horse may not always be lame 

 from a corn. The lameness gets worse as horse 

 works. A few days' rest may temporarily re- 

 move the lameness. Horse may point the affected 

 foot when standing, or stand very uneasily, if 

 both forefeet or hindfeet are affected. They 

 rarely occur in hindfeet. The corn usually 

 occurs on the internal portion of the sole near 

 the heel, owing to there being greater weight on 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[CHAP. 



the inside and owing to the inner wall being 

 more upright. 



Treatment. Remove shoe, and pare enough 

 of the horn out to get access to the corn. If 

 there is any suppuration, the wound must be 

 treated as for pricks. (See Sees. 855-6.) If odour 

 is bad, probably pedal bone is diseased, so any 

 diseased bone will have to be removed under 

 chloroform. If the wound is troublesome, anaes- 

 thetise foot with cocaine, and insert red-hot iron 

 to burn the diseased parts. Watch for signs of 

 quittor. (Sec. 436.) After wound has healed, or 

 if there is no suppuration, shoe with three- 

 quarter shoe, so that there is no web under the 

 heel near the corn, and put bar across frog to 

 keep weight off seat of corn. If there is a corn 

 on both sides, shoe with a tip, and extend a bar 

 from the toe across the frog. 



864. SANDCRACK. This is a fissure in the 

 crust or wall that runs in the direction of the 

 fibres. 



Cause. Generally due to weakness in foot or 

 constitutional disturbance. More common in 

 flat feet. May be the result of rasping the walls. 



Symptoms. There may or may not be lame- 

 ness. A fissure or groove, perhaps very slight 

 at first, appears in the wall running downwards 

 and slightly forwards ; may be at the top or 

 may not reach up to the coronet. 



Treatment. If there is lameness, poultice 

 with antiseptic poultice (Sec. 503) for a few 

 days. Thoroughly syringe out the fissure. If 

 it does not extend to coronet, rasp a deep nick, 

 about 1 in. long, horizontally above the fissure, 

 remove shoe, and pare out a semicircular groove 

 on ground surface of wall to take weight off 

 the fibres, which extend from the fissure to the 

 shoe ; then replace shoe. If the fissure is at the 

 top of the foot and extends to the coronet, rasp 

 or burn with wedge-shaped iron a V large 

 enough to enclose the fissure inside the V. The 

 tops of the V must reach the coronet. The foot 

 must be anaesthetised with cocaine. (Sec. 759, 

 et seq.) If the fissure extends the full length 

 of the wall, little holes must be made on each 

 side, about 1 in. from fissure, and iron staples 

 hammered in to hold the wall together. Ground 

 surface of wall pared as above. If fissure 

 reaches coronet, horse must not work until the 

 horn has grown at least one inch below coronet, 

 when a horizontal nick must be made to prevent 

 the crack from running up. Wherever the fissure 

 is, the growth of horn must be stimulated by 

 blistering coronet with a good cantharides 

 blister. 



865. SPLIT HOOF. Split hoofs may be due 

 to concussion or external injuries. As a rule, 

 the split starts at the bottom, and extends only 

 for a short way up. It may be horizontal ; in 

 this case use clenches. Treat split hoof as 

 described for sandcrack. (Sec. 864.) 



866. FALSE QUARTER. This is a depression 



