246 DISEASES OF THE HORSE’S FOOT 
of the incomplete horn is usually a narrow fissure marking 
the line of separation in the papillary layer of the coronary 
cushion, which, as we shall later see, is responsible for the 
malformation. 
On either side of the indentation, as if wishing to aid 
further than ordinarily it should in bearing the body- 
weight, the horn takes on an increased growth, and 
stands above the level of the horn surrounding it. It 
may, as perhaps it really is, be regarded as a form of 
hypertrophy, brought about by the increased work that 
the loss of substance in the region of the false quarter puts 
upon it. 
So long as the sensitive structures are protected the 
animal remains sound. Sometimes, however, from the 
effects of concussion or of the body-weight, a fissure ap- 
pears in the narrow veneer of horn that covers them. 
Into this, which, of course, is but a form of sand-crack, 
gravel and dirt penetrate, and so set up inflammatory 
changes in the keratogenous membrane. As a result 
suppuration ensues, and the animal is lame. 
Causes.—False quarter may result from any disease of 
the foot that involves destruction of a portion of the 
coronary cushion. As we may see from a reference to 
Chapter III., it is from the papille of this body that the 
horn tubules of the wall are secreted. Destruction of any 
portion of it necessarily results in a corresponding loss of 
horn in that position. The disease occasioning this more 
often than any other is perhaps quittor. It may also result 
from suppurating corn, from a severe tread or overreach, 
or from the effects of a slowly progressing suppurating 
coronitis. 
Treatment.—A radical treatment of false quarter is not 
to be found. Once destruction of the secreting layer of 
the coronary cushion has occurred, the appearance of the 
fissure in the wall will always have to be reckoned with. A 
false quarter, therefore, not only renders the horse liable to 
occasional lameness, but also renders weaker that side of 
the hoof in which it occurs. 
