414 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
place, it may be removed by an operation; but if much of the bone 
is affected, or if the navicular and coronet bones are involved in the 
carious process, the only hope for a cure is in the amputation of the 
foot. This operation is advisable only when the animal is valuable 
for breeding purposes. In all other cases in which there is no hope 
for recovery the patient’s suffering should be relieved by death. In 
tendinous quittor much thickening of the coronary region, and some- 
times of the ankle and fetlock, remains after suppuration has ceased 
and the fistulous tracts have healed. To stimulate the reabsorption of 
this new and unnecessary tissue, the parts should be fired with the 
hot iron, or, in its absence, repeated blistering with the biniodid of 
mercury ointment may largely accomplish the same results. 
SUBHORNY QUITTOR. 
This is the most common form of the disease. It is generally seen 
in but one foot at a time, and more often in the fore than in the hind 
feet. It nearly always attacks the inside quarter, but may affect the 
outside, the band in front, or the heel, where it is of but little con- 
sequence. It. consists in the inflammation of a small part of the 
coronary band and adjacent skin, followed by sloughing and sup- 
puration, which in most cases extends to the neighboring sensitive 
lamine. 
Causes.—Injuries to the coronet, such as bruises, overreaching, and 
calk wounds, are considered as the common causes of this disease. 
Still, cases occur in which there appears to be no existing cause, just 
as in the other forms of quittor, and it seems fair to conclude that 
subhorny quittor may also be produced by internal causes. 
Symptoms.—At the outset the lameness is always severe, and the 
patient often refuses to use the affected foot. Swelling of the coronet 
close to the top of the hoof causes the quarter to protrude beyond the 
wall. This tumor is extremely sensitive, and the whole foot is hot 
and painful. After a few days a small spot in the skin, over the 
most elevated part of the tumor, softens and opens or the hoof sepa- 
rates from the coronary band at the quarter or well back toward the 
heel. From this opening, wherever it may be, a thin, watery, often 
dark, offensive discharge escapes, at times mixed with blood and 
always containing a considerable percentage of pus. 
Probing will now disclose a fistulous tract leading to the bottom of 
the diseased tissues. If the opening is small, there is a tendency upon 
the part of the suppurative process to spread downward; the pus 
gradually separates the hoof from the sensitive lamine until the sole 
is reached, and even a portion of. this may be undermined. 
Asa rule, the slough in this form of quittor is not deep, and if the 
case receives early and proper treatment complications are generally 
avoided; but if the case is neglected, and, occasionally, even in spite 
