Chapter XIII (1)

THE FEET--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.

LAMENESS.

Of all inventions intended to mitigate the sufferings of the horse, none, perhaps, is so generally useful as the foot-bath; certainly, not one is so decidedly beneficial in its operation. It consists merely of a wooden or iron trough, one foot deep; the shoes of the animal should, if possible, be taken off before the hoof is allowed to tread within the bath; or, if such a measure be not possible, then the burden of the horse's body should be counterpoised by means of weights. This precaution is always prudent, for, should the shod horse occasion fracture or breakage, an alarm might be excited which probably would ever after prevent the employment of the foot-bath with the same quadruped.

The water should always be mixed without the building; it is never well to excite an animal's fears by allowing it to witness unnecessary preparation. The author is fully aware that most people assert the horse has a very limited comprehension: so it may have; but it has an active terror, which is apt to misconstrue the simplest of motives. Whoever has seen the busy eye of the quadruped watching all that takes place around it, and noting every triviality whenever any unusual movement gives intimation to the animal that something is about to be attempted, will readily allow the need there is for excessive caution. The horse may comprehend nothing, but it is not, therefore, the less to be propitiated. Its terror has to be soothed and its confidence has to be gained; the last is soonest won by avoiding anything which possibly might excite the first.

Always have the heat of the water ascertained by a thermometer. Sensation is only a relative test with regard to the presence or absence of warmth; were it not so, the coarse hand of a groom, nevertheless, might easily endure that degree of temperature which should pain the foot and leg of a horse. Let the fluid in the first instance stand at 70°; after the animal has entered the bath, gradually and without noise increase the temperature up to 90°.

At that standard the water ought to be maintained; the hoof should remain soaking from four to six hours at each operation; the groom, doubtless, will complain of having frequently to fetch warm water, and when not so employed, of being obliged to watch a thermometer; but the present book is not written to please the likings of any individual. To contribute to the welfare of the horse is the object of the writer; that he has not unnecessarily imposed an irksome duty upon any human being, the purpose for which the bath is introduced into the stable should be sufficient evidence.

The horse's hoof is of considerable thickness; it is far from unusual with stablemen to saturate the healthy hoof with various greasy preparations; therefore it will require some time before the heat and water can soften that which is, as it were, prepared to resist their action. The hoof should be rendered perceptibly soft when the object is to relieve a painful =lameness=; the warmth and moisture should not only saturate the covering to the foot, but should also soothe the internal structures. The pressure of the horn may thus be mitigated, and the deep-seated inflammation likewise be ameliorated.

When the bath is removed, the foot should not be left exposed to the air, as the horn then quickly dries; it soon becomes harsh and brittle. In this condition, it is likely to do more injury to the sensitive parts than good was anticipated as the consequence of its immersion. The hoof, when taken from the water, should be incased in warm and air-proof bandages--the intention being to retain the heat, while evaporation is prevented. The bandages likewise answer another purpose; they protect the foot, which, being without a shoe, and covered by horn that has been deprived of its resistant property, is therefore much exposed to accidents.

To obtain the full benefit of the bath, the foot should enter it night and morning; the animal should be subjected to its operation for at least four hours each time, and the ingenuity ought to be exerted to prevent the hoof from becoming dry in the interim. Perhaps nothing is better for this purpose than the leather case, which is lined with sponge, and which can be procured of most tradesmen who deal in veterinary instruments; it is made to fit the foot, also to envelop the pastern. The bottom portion is formed of the stoutest leather, and will afford all desirable protection; while the sponge will retain the moisture, which this material permits to be renewed, should circumstances, such as the heat of the hoof or the warmth of the weather, cause the fluid to evaporate. However, such additions must always be made with warm, cold water being unsuited for the purpose.

These particulars have been thus fully detailed because lameness constitutes no inconsiderable portion of equine misery, and because such ailments are more frequently encountered than special forms of disease. To judge quickly and surely of such affections proves in no small degree veterinary proficiency; in every shade of lameness, the gentleman, unless more than usually practiced in such ailments, had better be guided by an educated opinion. Where it is possible to mistake another's misery, it displays no boldness to risk chances upon our own judgment.

Lameness is simply the difference of bearing cast, during progression, upon the several legs. Pain in the joints, bones, or tendons is most severe. It is even more terrible when inflammation of such structures is confined within the horny hoof; of this torture man can know nothing--he may rest the angry limb, may recline the body, or may seek consolation in friendly converse and in mental diversion. From all the higher pleasures the horse is excluded. It cannot rest the leg; and the instinctive dread which the sick animal displays of being unable to rise again prevents the quadruped seeking that relief a change of posture might afford.

The horse always stands when seriously diseased; often the erect position is continued to the last, for the sufferer ceases to maintain it only with the relinquishment of life. During severe lameness in one foot, the animal seldom lies down; it stands and stands, often for months. How the limbs must ache! Yet the relief which the slightest motion might induce is avoided with the tenacity which pain begets when operating upon excessive timidity. Often one spot is occupied for months! During this tedious period one foot is held from the earth. The mind shrinks from conjecturing the torture which could prompt such an act; the reason retreats from contemplating the agony by which the deed can alone be occasioned; we shudder as the imagination remotely pictures the pains by which it must be accompanied! Yet who has been much among stables, and has not witnessed many such sights?

It requires small knowledge to recognize those lamenesses to which the heavy breed of horses is particularly exposed. Agony, being excessive, always obliges this species of animal to indicate the limb, or to attract the attention of the spectator toward it. These creatures, when thus affected, if compelled to move, hop onward upon three legs; the weight is never thrown upon the foot which has been severely injured.

Illustrating this subject is the annexed figure of a horse which has been hurt upon the off fore foot; the figure is supposed to be desirous of progressing, or to be in the act of bringing the hind limbs forward. The entire weight having for a certain space to rest upon a single support, some time is spent in accurately balancing the body before this action is hazarded. The slightest mistake would necessitate a fall, of which it has been observed the sick horse is endued with a particular dread. Therefore, after a certain time spent in preparation, the legs are, with much muscular exertion, lifted from the ground, and the sufferer hops onward.

The wretchedness of the quadruped, however, is not complete until one or both hind legs are implicated. From some hidden cause, the anguish of the animal, great as it may be, is not perfected while the lameness resides in front. The horse, suffering in a fore limb, has even laid on flesh during the period of enforced idleness. But when the posterior extremities are injured, the constitution is involved. The body wastes rapidly, and every fiber within the huge framework seems to quiver with sensibility.

If the creature, thus disabled in one leg, is obliged to advance, the chief difficulty is to so place the sound limb upon the earth that the balance shall not be destroyed. There are the two fore legs to rest upon, and the head to act as a kind of counterpoise; therefore there is little impediment to raising of the trunk; but the obstacle consists in the peril to be surmounted when the sound member reaches the ground. A certain shock has then to be sustained, and the fear apparently is lest the slightest want of preparation should bring the body to the earth.

The next motion delineated necessitates the greatest care and the mightiest exertion. There are several signs which declare such to be the case. To advance the two sound fore legs is an effort of despair always preceded by a pause. During the time the feet are from the earth, the entire weight, unrelieved by the slightest counterpoise, must be supported by one sound limb. The muscles on that side have to raise the trunk, or to perform double labor, for the step invariably is a species of leap. The body has not only to be lifted, but the strain must be maintained to continue or rectify the balance. A pause of more than ordinary length declares the magnitude of the approaching struggle. The teeth are clinched; the head is thrown backward; a deep inspiration is inhaled; the muscles are powerfully excited; and, with a spasmodic suddenness, the feet are projected onward.

The step accomplished, the breath is released in a kind of heavy sigh; the animal remains quiescent for a brief space, as though the greatness of the late effort had partially deprived it of consciousness. It is, however, an exceptional ease for a horse of the lighter breed to be thus "hopping lame." In all animals, nevertheless, lameness is a heavy affliction; in all, the manner of progressing is characteristic of pain. Suffering, more or less intense, is declared every time the injured foot touches the ground.

One fore foot being affected, the head and body drop, or slightly sink, whenever the sound member rests upon the earth. This peculiarity a little reflection will readily account for. Of course the desire of a lame animal is to spare the disabled foot as much as possible. The injured part scarcely touches the earth, before, with an effort which raises the head and body, it is lifted again into the air. The least possible burden is thrown upon the disabled foot. However, the weight must be cast somewhere; and by how much less one leg has to carry, so much more must the other support. Consequently, when the sound hoof comes to the ground, the extra burden rests upon it; the head and body perceptibly drop, and the footfall emits an emphatic sound, the accent of which is increased by the all but inaudible tread of the opposite member.

The indication, however, is in some measure reversed when the lameness is situated behind. The movements of the head no longer accompany those of the fore legs; for, although the head be not steady, it evidently is not influenced by the forward members. If, however, the motion be closely observed, it will be found to be regulated by the movements of the posterior extremities, only with a difference. When the sound hind limb rests upon the earth, the head is raised; but the sinking or elevation of the whole body is never so marked as it is in the previous case of anterior injury. The movements characteristic of posterior lameness are, however, well shown in the haunches. When the sound limb reaches the ground, the hind portion of the body obviously drops upon that side; when the painful member is caught up, that side of the haunch on which resides the disabled foot is also jerked upward.

There are other sorts of lameness to be described. A horse is sometimes returned by the smith lame all round. The gait is peculiar, because it is caused by the shoes being too small or tight. It has been likened to skating; and the author thinks the term so applicable that he has no desire to change it. There can, however, be then no difficulty in detecting the cause of the affliction. The horse was, a short time before, sent to the forge a sound animal, and it has been returned a positive cripple.

It is lamentable to remark the number of horses which are driven through the streets of London in a disabled condition. People appear to be without feelings or recognitions when the sufferings of horse-flesh are before them. An animal with scarcely a sound limb, or else "hopping lame," may frequently be seen, in broad daylight, attached to some gentleman's carriage or tradesman's cart, to a hired vehicle or a costermonger's "all sorts." From the highest to the lowest, all are equally disgraced; the toil of a life seems incapable of purchasing a day's commiseration. A little forbearance might be a profitable investment in these cases; but no person seems able to keep a horse and to allow the animal a day of rest. So long as it can crawl, so long must patience work!

Other forms of suffering than those confined to the feet affect the progression of the horse; the "whirl-bone" or hip-joint is sometimes visited by ulceration. The symptoms then in a degree resemble those exhibited when occult spavin is present; the affected limb is, however, after touching the earth, caught up more sharply when the hip is diseased. The hoof, moreover, is presented more fully during motion in the last-mentioned affection. The best method, however, to ascertain the existence of the ulceration, is to hold some soft substance over the joint, then to strike it with a mallet; the shock will be communicated to the seat of lameness, and elicit an energetic response.

Nothing can be done for such a condition; certain barbarities are proposed as experiments by continental veterinarians; but man obviously has no right to run chances with cruelty practiced upon breathing life. Hip-joint disease is decidedly incurable, and renders every step a separate agony.

The shoulder is a very favorite seat of injury with those who pretend to a knowledge of equine ailments; with such simple folk, if a horse be lame behind, the cause is always traced to the whirl-bone; should an animal have partially lost the use of an anterior limb, the injury is invariably found in the shoulder. The proof of their correctness is always exhibited in the lessened bulk of the parts referred to; but throw a limb out of use, as lameness in the horse always does, and the absorption of the whole extremity, from want of exercise, naturally ensues.

The shoulder-joint is occasionally ulcerated; but more often disease is found upon the tendon of the flexor brachii, a muscle which, arising from the shoulder-joint, is of service in flexing the radius. In both cases the seeming length of the arm is remarkable; so also is the fixedness of the shoulder, and the obstinate refusal to advance or to flex the arm. The consequence is, that a horse with disease of the shoulder drags the limb, and never lifts the toe from the ground.

Ulceration is sometimes, though rarely, witnessed within the elbow-joint; a case of this description is recorded by the late W. Percival. The chief symptom indicated subacute laminitis; the affection appeared gradually, and, without intermission, proceeded from simple bad to the very worst. The foot was, however, neither hot nor tender; by this sign the affection was distinguished from every form of fever in the feet, although the animal endeavored to bear only upon the heels of the fore extremities, and brought the hind legs as far under the body as was possible.

Disease of the knee-joint is far from unusual. Mr. Cherry first directed attention to this fact; for, although dissection had frequently exhibited the carpal bones united, no one prior to Mr. Cherry drew any inference from the obvious indication.

Mr. Cherry describes the symptoms of the affection to be a stiffened protrusion of the fore leg, a long step, and an entire want of flexion in the diseased limb.

The author is unable to corroborate the above observations, possibly from his attention only having been directed to a few cases, and those not of a very acute character. The writer has, however, remarked, in certain instances, a perpetual knuckling over, without deposit in the knee or contraction in the tendons being present to account for the assumption of so uncomfortable an attitude. A want of power to bend the leg was noted in a few animals. Such horses either placed the limb outside the body when they lay down, or rested upon their sides; and lameness, though always present, was never witnessed in an aggravated shape.

No human lamentation could embody the deep sorrow which the crippled condition of one leg occasions to the horse. The creature thereby is left a clog upon the earth. Its existence is deprived of the power which alone made it pleasant. Progression is laborious, and even rest is painful. The quadruped, thus disabled, stands motionless on one spot; the head is lowered; the eyes are dejected; the breathing is fitful; and the entire frame is apparently resigned to a huge sense of degradation. All the pride of life is lost. Every trace of animation has fled. The animal evidently is, in its own conviction, useless and disgraced. A horse in such a state is, indeed, a melancholy spectacle; and the feelings of that man who, understanding the image, can contemplate it unmoved are not to be envied. Still, for how many years has such a sight been before the eyes of mankind, without any individual possessing the heart to interpret it!

Surely in all life there exists no other creature so willing to obey--so happy in its labor, and so entirely obedient under command--which is equally subjected to abuse! All the horse demands, in requital for its manifold services, is food and shelter: kindness it does not insist upon, and even bad usage it submits to. For permission to live, it mildly pleads; and in return for the liberality which merely supports the strength, it contentedly resigns its body and relinquishes its intelligence. Yet the natural wants are often stinted, although the toil is always bitterly exacted. Surely in all life there exists no other creature equally subjected to abuse!

The patience of the reader is solicited, while the author notices a circumstance connected with the present subject, which has repeatedly come under his observation. Nothing can so entirely subdue the spirit of a horse as an acute lameness: the suffering must be intense. To a distant conception of the agony endured man cannot excite his imagination. Still, all of the effect upon the quadruped is not to be attributed to that cause. Other diseases are painful, but by them the constitution is affected. Lameness, generally, is a local affliction--it is not a general involvement; it leaves the constitution healthy. Yet a high-mettled, or even a savage animal, is often quieted as by a charm when the foot is disabled. The intractable of the species has, by a sudden visitation of this nature, been rendered passive. The existence seems then to be given up to misery, and the horse becomes disregardful of whoever approaches it. On such a sufferer expend but a little time striving to convince it of your intent. It is astonishing how quick affliction is to comprehend humanity; and the painful foot is given up to man's desires--nay, sometimes it is even advanced for his inspection.

The writer has applied to the crippled feet of horses certain remedies which must have augmented what previously appeared to be the extreme of anguish. The author has been painfully conscious of the agony attendant on the operation; but to his surprise the animals have not flinched, neither have the feet been withdrawn. The quadruped appeared to suffer torture with the patience of stoicism, influenced by the abandonment of utter confidence. The most caustic dressings have been freely employed upon the most sensitive part; yet the creature which, when in health, seemed made up of the acutest sensibilities, has submitted to the torture with more than mortal fortitude. Once win the reliance of timidity, and so beautiful, so entire, so self-nugatory is its confidence.

Little can be said concerning the cure of lameness. The causes are various, and, of course, the remedies are as numerous as the provocatives. One thing may, however, be advised: have the shoe taken off and the foot searched. Never mind the horn being pared away--many a horse limps upon a whole hoof; and it is astonishing upon how small a portion of horn an animal may go sound. The seat of the injury being ascertained, and so much of the inorganic covering removed as may be necessary to afford some relief, always soak the foot in the bath before permitting the final use of the knife. The water cleanses the part, favors the discharge of pus, lowers the inflammatory action, softens the anguish, and destroys the harsh character of the dry horn. This last substance, as was observed, by the united action of warmth and moisture loses its resistant property. It cuts easily when newly released from the bath; and if the knife be sharp, it may be excised without any of that dragging sensation which frequently provokes the animal to snatch away the member while it is being operated upon.

PUMICE FOOT.

=Pumice foot= is a deformity produced by hard work; it does certainly appear strange, when we regard the beauty and strength united in the frame of the horse, that man's barbarity should exceed Nature's ingenuity. A more captivating present--heightening human pleasures, lessening human toil--than the horse, it is impossible to imagine; but its beauty seems only given for man to deface. A stronger helpmate, when speed is considered, it appeared beyond the most excited imagination to fancy. But the cruelty of the master found it easy to incapacitate the power so exquisitely endowed. The speed was too slow for the eagerness of the rider; the docility was not apt enough for the impatience of the possessor; in every particular the servant seems to have been at fault; and now we hear men gravely lamenting the invention of railroads, because these will interfere with the breeding of horses. Let us hope the establishment of railroads may supply a deficiency which the willingness of flesh and blood was unable to gratify.

Animals bred on a marshy land, and of a loose habit of body, are apt to have weak feet, a specimen of which is given on next page, though not of one belonging to the heavy cart-horse. All the delineations inserted in this book are necessarily extreme cases; it is easy for the imagination to soften the evil when the mind is impressed with characteristics of the thing which is depicted; but not always so free from difficulty for an untutored imagination to magnify a reduced portrait.

A weak foot has a long, slanting pastern; the hoof is marked by rings, showing the irregularity of the horny secretion, and the crust is broken in those places where nails have been driven to fasten on the shoe, proving the brittle nature of the hoof.

Such are the outward signs of a weak hoof; but if the person beholding that sort of foot be in any doubt, let him lift it from the ground and inspect the sole. That part will also present peculiarities which can hardly fail to attract attention.

The sole of a weak foot has a thin and irregular margin of crust; a flat surface; well-developed bars, and a healthy frog. Creatures with this kind of hoof, when brought to work upon hard roads or London stones, are apt to throw the foot down with heedless force at every step, and thereby soon to bruise the sole. These horses generally have high action, and this circumstance lends additional force to the blow; the injury reaches the coffin-bone, which begins to enlarge, and ultimately forces the horny sole outward. A pumice foot has the appearance of the member represented on the next page, though the reader must not anticipate the illustration will accurately indicate every stage of the disorder.

Feet of the above description generally have very weak and brittle crusts; but the frog almost invariably is large and prominent; there is no kind of foot which so generally exhibits a healthy frog, and the next page shows an engraving of the ground surface of a pumice foot, in illustration of the fact.

There are many methods proposed for amending a pumiced foot. One is the removal of the shoe; then allowing the deformed foot to stand a certain portion of time upon flat flag-stones. But as stamping the foot upon stones produced pumice foot, prolonged stress thereon does not seem calculated to remove the deformity. A pumice foot is not a lump of pudding, to be flattened by simple pressure. In the horse's hoof there is bone and flesh to operate upon. Even supposing the standing upon flag-stones was beneficial, what immediate result could be anticipated from a medicine which was to be administered once in three weeks, and for half an hour only at each application?

Showing the swollen or rounded state of the sole, with the brittle and uneven condition of the crust.]

Displaying a ragged wall, and exhibiting a very healthy frog and a bulging sole.]

Another artifice is to draw a hot iron over the sole at every shoeing. The intention is to stimulate the horn and thus render the sole of greater thickness. But that which may affect the secreting membrane of the foot may also stimulate the bone to which that membrane is attached. Thus the intended remedy may turn out to be a positive aggravation. There are also other methods of intended relief, but all are equally useless.

Showing the altered state of the internal structures.]

Employed in cases of severe pumice foot.]

The only means of real benefit lies in the treatment of the hoof and in the mode of shoeing. For the last, select what is denominated a "dish" shoe; that is, a bar shoe, having the web hollowed out like to the sides of a pie-dish. The only part of this shoe which touches the ground is the rim of the inner circle.

This kind of shoe will protect the bulging sole, and if shod with leather, the protection will be greater, though the shoe will, in that case, be more difficult to retain. The flat surface at the posterior part of the shoe presents a point for the bearing of the frog, which can afford almost any amount of pressure. The many nail holes made around the shoe denote the difficulty the smith encounters when fixing a protection of this sort upon the pumiced hoof. The crust of the foot is always brittle, and the weight of iron employed being greater than usual requires an extra number of nails to fasten it securely. The smith consequently, in such cases, has no choice. He must drive a nail wherever he can find the horn which will sustain one.

With regard to the horn, keep that continually dressed with equal parts of animal glycerin and tar. Moisten the hoof with this mixture twice a day. No improvement may be remarked in a week; but in two or three months the crust will have become perceptibly less brittle, and the labor of the smith will be rendered far less perplexing. For the abnormal condition of the foot--that is permanent and nothing can be done beyond employing such artifices as are calculated to relieve the affliction.

SANDCRACK.

Any cause which weakens the body of the horse by interfering with the health of its secretions may induce =sandcrack=. Treading for any length of time upon ground from which all moisture is absent, by rendering the horn hard or dry, may cause the hoof to be brittle and give rise to sandcrack. However, this last provocative seldom operates in this country; when sandcrack occurs in an English horse, it is generally generated by debility, which leads to the secretion of faulty horn. So far, however, is this from being the prevailing opinion, and so little sympathy does the horse receive in its diseases, that the endeavor, indeed the custom, of all veterinary surgeons is to continue at work the horse having a division running completely through the hoof.

Sandcracks are of two sorts. Quarter crack, which chiefly happens among the lighter breed of animals; toe crack, which occurs principally with cart-horses, and mostly with those which work between the shafts.

Quarter sandcrack is of the least importance of the two. It is oftenest seen upon the inner quarter of the hoof, where the horn, being thinnest, is most subjected to motion. Usually it commences at the coronet, extending to the sole, and also to the sensitive laminæ.

A horse thus affected should be thrown up; should be placed in a large, loose box, and receive soft, nutritious food, such as boiled oats, boiled linseed, and scalded hay. A little green-meat occasionally should be allowed to regulate the bowels; greased swabs should be placed over the hoof and under the sole. A bar shoe should be worn upon the affected foot. This treatment should be continued till the horse has recovered from its debility.

Generally met with, in fast horses, upon the inner side of the fore foot.]

With regard to the crack itself, take a fine knife and gradually scrape off the sharp edges till the division assumes the appearance of a groove. If the crack does not reach through to the flesh, no fear need be entertained concerning the lower edges of the crack, because the horn secreted by the laminæ is of a soft nature, and will most readily yield. Besides, paring the outer horn often prevents the inner layer being cracked by the motion of the foot; this being done, should the division not descend the entire length of the hoof, or reach from the ground to the coronet, with a firing-iron, heated to redness, draw a line at each extremity of the fissure. The line need not be made so deep as will occasion pain; it is only necessary that the mark should go through the hard outer crust of the foot to prevent extension of the division.

Should the separation be the whole way down the hoof, it is as well to adopt either the plan followed by the late Mr. Read, or the mode pursued by Mr. Woodger, the clever practical veterinarian, well known in Paddington. Mr. Read used to make a semicircular line near the coronet with the hot iron: Mr. Woodger has for years been accustomed to draw lines from the coronet to the crack in the shape of a V, with the same instrument. Both methods have a like intention, namely, to cut off the coronet from the inferior portion of the hoof, thereby preventing the movements of the foot from operating upon the newly secreted horn. However, Mr. Woodger's plan being the easiest, and quite as effective as that of the late Mr. Read, is certainly the best.

Sandcrack, when it occurs at the toe, usually extends the entire length of the foot, and leaves a portion of bleeding flesh exposed. The laminæ, being opened to the stimulating effects of the air, are very apt to throw out a crop of luxuriant granulations. These, of course, are pinched between the two sides of the division. They bleed freely; often, from the pressure, they turn black, and then smell abominably. The putrid action, having once commenced, is apt to extend, and portions of the coffin-bone are likely to exfoliate.

Now to prevent this, so soon as the horse is brought in with a sandcrack, wash the part thoroughly with the chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to the ounce of water. The bleeding having ceased, pare down the outward edges of the separation, and put on a bar shoe, eased off at the toe, and with a clip on either side of the division. If the injury has not extended the length of the hoof, you must make a line at each extremity with a heated iron, as in quarter crack, than which it is also of more consequence that the coronet should be isolated; because the external horn being thickest at the toe, is the more likely by its movements to be influential upon the new and plastic horn of the coronet.

Illustrating the mode of shoeing with clips, and of easing off at the toe; also exemplifying the manner of paring down the hoof, and showing the part where granulations are likely to appear.]

Should, however, the granulations have appeared, and the horse, with appetite lost and the head dejected, the pulse thumping and the injured foot held in the air, appear the picture of a living misery, first cleanse the wound thoroughly with the chloride of zinc lotion. Then apply a firing-iron, of a black heat, to the hoof, near to the crack. The intention, in doing this, is to warm and thus to soften the horn. This effect being accomplished, pare down or scoop off the edges--using the heated iron again, if necessary. Do all this leisurely, and with every consideration for the animal, which endures intense agony; for anything like violence or impatience tells fearfully upon the sufferer's system.

The horn being lowered, take a very sharp drawing-knife, and, with one movement of the wrist, excise the granulation. Set down the foot, and leave it to bleed; the loss of blood will lower the inflammation and will benefit the internal parts. Give a little green-meat to cool the system and act upon the bowels. Then, with the constant use of the lotion, enough has been done for one day.

The following morning you may again apply the lotion, and continue to use it afterward thrice daily. Any further lowering may also be accomplished to the edges of the crack, as well as the coronal portion of the horn be separated from the lower part of the hoof, by means of lines drawn as before illustrated.

If the horse must go to work, remember, it should not be in the shafts, upon long journeys, or with a heavy load behind it. Before the animal quits the stable, lay a piece of tow saturated with the lotion within the crack, and bind that in with a wax-end; tie a strip of cloth over all; give this bandage a coating of tar; and, when the horse returns, be sure to inspect the part. Should any grit have penetrated, wash it out with the lotion, and do not begrudge a minute or two to remove that which, if allowed to remain, may cause the animal much additional anguish. Then give the suffering creature a nice, deep bed, some scalded hay, and a mash made of bruised oats, into which has been thrown a handful each of linseed and of crushed beans; moisten these last constituents with the water drawn from the scalded hay, and, if the horse should not appear hungry, throw among the hay half a handful of common salt.

Showing the way in which it should be bound up when work is imperative.]

The poor man may have some excuse for working an animal with sandcrack; such a person cannot afford to keep the horse in idleness for the months which the cure will occupy. But the worst cases of this kind the author ever beheld have always been in quadrupeds belonging to wealthy tradesmen, who had ample means to gratify their desires, but wanted the heart to feel for mute affliction.

FALSE QUARTER.

=False quarter= is the partial absence of the outer and harder portion of the hoof; the consequence is, that the sensitive laminæ, in the seat of the false quarter, are only protected by their own soft or spongy horn. This is frequently insufficient to save the foot from severe accident; it is apt to crack, being strained by the motion of the hoof. The fleshy parts are then exposed; bleeding ensues, and fungoid granulations sometimes spring up; these are often pinched by the two sides of the divided horn, between which they protrude. When such occurs, the treatment should be the same as that recommended for sandcrack.

No art can cure a false quarter; a portion of the coronary substance has been lost, and no medicine can restore it. All that can be done is to mitigate the suffering; a bar shoe with a clip at the toe may be used, the bearing being taken off at the seat of false quarter. The portion of crust near to the weakened part should be beveled off, so as to join the soft horn with an insensible edge. Some persons recommend a mixture of pitch, tar, and rosin to be poured over the exposed quarter; the author has not found this compound to answer; it peels and breaks off upon the horse being put in motion. A piece of gutta-percha, of proportionate thickness, fastened over the place, has sometimes remained on for a week, and answered to admiration.

SEEDY TOE.

It appears not to have occurred to writers upon veterinary subjects that the horse, which breathes but to work--for the instant its ability to toil ceases the knacker becomes its possessor--that an animal which exists under so severe a law, should occasionally be "used up;" that a creature which is sold from master to master, all of whom become purchasers with a view only to "the work" each can get out of the "thews and muscles," should occasionally be debilitated to that stage which might interfere with the healthiness of its secretions, is a notion that seems to have been beyond the reach of those writers who have hitherto composed books upon the equine race. A separation between the union of the two layers of horn which compose the crust has been long known; it has been much thought about, and the fancy has been somewhat racked to account for its origin. Still, although the human physician has recorded the brittle state and abnormal condition of man's nails in peculiar stages of disease, no one seems thence to have argued that a certain condition of body might possibly affect the hoofs of our stabled servant.

The method of cure which the author adopted, led thereto by the admirable lectures of Mr. Spooner, and the success it met, soon made apparent the fact of its origin; but, before describing this, it may be as well to inform the reader in what consists a seedy state of the horse's toe.

The wall of the foot is composed of two layers--the outer one, the hardest, the darkest, and the thinnest, is secreted by the coronet; the inner layer, the softest, thickest, and most light in color, is derived from the sensitive laminæ. These different kinds of horn, in a healthy state, unite one with the other, so that the two apparently form one substance. The junction makes a thick, elastic, and strong body, whereto an iron shoe can be safely nailed, and whereon the enormous bulk of the horse's frame may with safety rest.

But when overwork affects the natural functions of the body, the two kinds of horn do not unite; their division invariably begins at the toe, as it always commences in the nail of the human being at the outer margin. If the seedy toe be tapped or gently struck, it emits a hollow sound; and if the shoe be removed, there will be found a vacant space between the two layers of horn; into this space a nail, a piece of broom, or a straw is commonly pushed, to ascertain the depth of the lesion.

Mr. Spooner advised that the whole of the detached horn should be cut away. The writer, however, insists that the horse should be thrown up--not turned out to grass, but placed in an airy, loose box, and liberally fed, or otherwise so treated as its condition may require. Once every fortnight, for two months, the smith should inspect the foot, and should cut away so much of the outer wall as may still be disunited. It commonly takes three or four months for the hoof to grow down or to become perfect; and rest, with liberal feeding, during this time, is sufficient to renovate an exhausted frame. A new and sound covering for the hoof of the invigorated horse is secreted by the expiration of the period named; nor has it reached the knowledge of the writer that any animal, after such a mode of treatment, has been liable to a second attack.

The ordinary method of cure is to cut away the hoof; then, having nailed a shoe on, to send the disfigured horse to resume labor. Under this form of treatment, the seedy division, once confined to the toe, has extended to the quarters; the structure of the hoof being destroyed, the horn was unfitted for its purposes. The weight of the body forced the sensitive laminæ from the coronary secretion, and the foot, after long treatment, became a deformity. The author has never beheld so lamentable a termination; but it is described by writers upon seedy toe with a complacency which seems to regard so grievous a result as the natural consequence of an intractable disorder.

TREAD AND OVERREACH.

=Tread= is a very rare occurrence with light horses; the author has met with but one instance. Then, from the horse being a good stepper, and from the accident happening toward the end of a long journey, as well as from certain indications of the wound itself, it was conjectured to have occurred in the manner depicted below.

The hind foot, from fatigue, not being removed soon enough, is wounded by the heel of the fore shoe being placed upon its coronet.]

The animal become unsteady from exhaustion; the feet cross, and a wound results.]

However, among cart-horses such a form of injury is more frequent; these poor animals have to drag heavy loads, at a slow pace, it is true, but to long distances; they are generally badly fed. Farmers' horses, especially during the spring and summer months, being supported upon green-meat, the watery nourishment impoverishes the blood, and the exhausting labor undermines the system. Often the load has to be taken down hill, toward the end of a tedious journey; the whole burden then rests upon the shafts, and the wretched horse which is between them rocks under the weight like a drunken man. The legs cross, till at last the calkin belonging to the shoe of one hind foot tears away a large lump of the opposite coronet. A piece of flesh is commonly left upon the ground; the hemorrhage is extreme, and the wagon is brought to a stand.

The worst case of the kind the writer ever saw occurred after the preceding fashion; and the carter--who, by-the-by, was proprietor of the sufferer--left the poor horse in a forge, giving orders that the smith was to do what he could, or to have it killed, as he pleased. The smith consulted the writer, and he treated the wound after the method recommended for open joint, or by bathing it thrice daily with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water. In a week a large slough took place; this opened the coffin-joint, and left a portion of the extensor pedis tendon hanging from the orifice. The treatment was continued; the lameness, which at first was excessive, gradually grew less; the piece of tendon sloughed out, and the wound began to heal. It had closed when the animal was fetched away by the owner; but the writer was unable afterward to learn whether false quarter ensued upon the injury. This, from the extent of the wound, the writer would conjecture to have been probable; indeed, false quarter and quittor are the general consequences of severe tread.

=Overreach= is confined to fast horses; it happens to those which are good steppers. When tired, the feet are apt to be moved irregularly; thus, one foot is often in its place before the other has been lifted; the result is, that the inner part of the hind foot strikes the outer side of the fore coronet. A wound, and frequently a severe one, is the consequence. False quarter or quittor is likely to ensue; the treatment must be the same as was before described. No poultices are required; these only add to the weight of the injured limb, and augment the distress of the animal. No harsh measures should be allowed; the horse has enough to bear; a slough has to take place. This is a severe tax upon the strength; all the good food and prepared water the animal can consume will not now be thrown away; the treatment is materially shortened by the nourishment being sustaining of its kind, and liberal in quantity; but the injury should be treated only with the knife, and the chloride of zinc lotion described in the course of this article.

CORNS.

=Corns= are of four kinds--the old, the new, the sappy, and the suppurating; all are caused by bruises to the sensitive sole. The shoe is the passive agent in their production, when they occur in large, fleshy feet; the thick, unyielding, horny sole is the passive agent, when they are present in contracted feet. The coffin-bone, in both cases, is the active agent; the wings, or posterior portions of this bone, project backward nearly as far as the bars, or immediately over the seat of corn. When the horse is in motion, the coffin-bone can never remain still; it rises, or rather the wings are drawn upward by the flexor tendon, every time the foot is lifted from the earth, and sinks, because of the weight cast upon it, every time the foot touches the ground. The wings of the bone, thus in constant action, when the horny sole is weak, often descend upon the fleshy sole, and bruise that substance upon the iron shoe; what is called a corn is the consequence. In contracted feet, where the sole is high, thick, and resistant, the horny sole does not descend, even when the immense weight of the horse's body rests upon it. It remains firm and fixed during every action of the animal--not so, however, the coffin-bone, which is in continuous motion. The result, of course, is, the imposed burden forces the wings of the coffin-bone downward. The horny sole will not yield, and the fleshy sole is therefore bruised between the wings of the coffin-bone and the horn bottom of the hoof; a corn is thereby established.

Showing the position of the hindermost part of the coffin-bone when
in a passive state; also portraying the shoe in the fleshy or flat
foot.
]

Illustrating the relative positions of the wings of the coffin-bone,
and the thick, concave, horny sole of the contracted foot when not
in motion.
]

Corns in a horse do not answer to those excrescences found upon the feet of man; being bruises, they consist of effusion in every instance. The effusion may either be of blood or of serum; blood constitutes the old and the new corn, serum gives rise to the sappy corn. The suppurative corn is an after-consequence of either of those just named; when the effusion has been so large as to defy absorption, a new action is started up--pus is secreted, and a suppurative corn is then created.

THE DEEPLY-SEATED AND SMALL, SCARLET SPOT WHICH DECLARES THE
PRESENCE OF A NEW CORN.
]

An old corn is the least serious, especially when it is easily cut away; it appears as a black mark upon the surface of the horny sole, and is little thought of when it can be speedily removed by the knife, because this shows the horse had a corn, but at present is free from such an annoyance. When, however, a superficial corn cannot be scooped out with the drawing-knife, but becomes brighter and brighter as more and more horn is cut away, till it assumes the scarlet aspect of a new corn, the matter is rather grave, because it denotes the horse to have had, and not to have been free from, corns during the growth of the present sole.

The new corn, as has been just intimated, consists of a portion of blood effused into the pores of the horn, and is of a bright-scarlet color. The size is of some consequence, as it best intimates the extent of the injury; if the stain be small and deep seated, it is of least moment.

The sappy corn is the consequence of a more gentle bruise, when serum and lymph only are effused--the horn being thereby merely rendered moist, not discolored. This species of corn is not very common, and by proper shoeing is readily removed.

The suppurating corn is the worst of all; it engenders heat in the foot, and causes excessive lameness; it creates all that anguish, a shadowy taste of which the human being endures when pus is confined beneath the substance of the finger-nail. The foot cannot be put to the ground; the arteries of the pastern throb forcibly; the countenance is dejected; and every symptom of acute suffering in a large body is exhibited.

Corns, which in man are found on the lower members, in the horse are generally witnessed only upon the fore feet. The writer has rarely seen an instance of their presence behind; but in whichever foot they appear, they must be the production of an instant, though, probably, the suppurative may be an exception; yet from these always being suddenly observed, even this species are said to be of instantaneous origin. A horse, when progressing, makes a false step; a sanguineous or sappy corn is by that faulty action established. The same horse may trot home perfectly sound, and be put into the stable for the night a healthy animal; but on the following morning it may be discovered standing on three legs. Pus may, in the interval, have been secreted, and the corn may have assumed the suppurative character.

The manner to examine for corn is, in the first place, to mark the age of the horse; then observe if, in the trot, either leg is favored. The animal being young, splint is the common cause of uneven action; if old, corns are more generally expected; the horse is brought to a stand and the smith sent for. The man raises the fore foot, and, taking a portion of crust and sole between the teeth of the pincers, gradually increases the pressure; he thus proceeds till he has by successive trials squeezed the sole all round. If the leg, while undergoing the operation, be withdrawn near either of the nails, the ideas take a different direction to that of corn; but if the foot be held steady, the seat of corn is lastly squeezed. Should no flinching be witnessed, the examination is not esteemed satisfactory until the smith has, with a small drawing-knife, denominated a searcher, cut away a portion of the sole at the seat of corn.

The sensibility will be extreme should suppurating corn be present; in that case the sole must be gradually removed until the pus is released. That being done, the shoe should be taken off and the foot put into a bran poultice. By this means the horn will be rendered more soft and the wound cleansed. The smith, on the following day, must again cut the foot, every portion of detached horn being very carefully excised.

The horn is itself a secretion, and, in a healthy state, is intimately united with the source of its origin. When, however, pus is effused, this always lies between the secreting membrane and the horn, which has been already secreted. The horn so displaced by the presence of a foreign substance is called under-run or detached; and all horn, so under-run or detached, must be removed. When this operation is properly performed, all signs of lameness will have generally disappeared. It is usual, however, to tack the old shoe on again; and having dressed the injury with chloride of zinc and water--one grain to the ounce--there remains only to examine the foot from time to time till new horn covers the surface; merely taking precaution for the present to shield the wound with a little tow, fastened in its place by a couple of cross splints.