l88 THE HORSB. 



usual to see old horses having chronic corns, apparently so accuston yJ. 

 to the slight pain which they suffer as not to limp at all; but these 

 animals are generally very restless; they paw their bedding behind them 

 at night, and in many instances they refuse to lie down for any length- 

 ened rest. The lameness of this disease, however, can hardly be said to 

 be characteristic, for the reason that it varies so greatly in intensity- 

 but the position of the leg while the patient is at rest is generally the 

 same in all cases. The foot is so advanced that it is relieved of all 

 weight and the fetlock is bent until all pressure by the contents of the 

 hoof is removed from the heels. In suppurative (festered) corn the 

 lameness disappears as soon as the abscess has opened. When the in- 

 jured tissues are much inflamed, as may happen in severe and recent 

 cases, the heel of the affected side, or even the whole foot is hot and 

 tender to pressure. In dry corn, and in most chronic cases, all evidences 

 of local fever are often wanting. It is in these cases that the patient 

 goes well when newly shod, for the smith cuts away the sole over the 

 seat of injurj^ until all pressure by the shoe is removed, and lowers the 

 heel so that the concussion is reduced to a minimum. If a corn is sus- 

 pected the foot should be examined for increased sensibility of the inside 

 heel. Tapping the heel of the shoe with a hammer and grasping the 

 wall and bar between the jaws of a pinchers, with moderte pressure, 

 will cause more or less flinching if the disease is present. For further 

 evidence the shoe is removed and the heel cut away with the drawing 

 knife. As the horn is pared out not only the sole in the angle is dis- 

 colored, but, in many instances, this insensible laminae of the bar and 

 wall adjacent are also stained with the escaped blood. In moist and 

 suppurative corns this discoloration is less marked than in dry corn and 

 may even be entirely wanting. In these cases the horn is soft, often 

 white, stringy or mealy, as seen in pumiced sole resulting from founder. 

 When the whole thickness of the sole is discolored and the horn dry and 

 brittle it is generally evidence that the corn is an old one and that the 

 exciting cause has existed continuously. A moist corn differs from the 

 dry corn in that the injury is more severe, the parts affected are more 

 or less inflamed, and the horn of the sole in the angle is undermined by 

 a citron-colored fluid, which often permeates the injured sole and lam- 

 inae, causing the horn to become somewhat spongy. 



A suppurative corn differs from the others in that inflammation ac- 

 companying the injury ends in suppuration. The pus collects at the 

 point of injury and finally escapes by working a passageway between 



