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.
[Illustration: A READY MEANS OF SOFTENING THE HORN, WHERE PRESSURE OF THE
HOOF AGGRAVATES THE LAMENESS.]
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.
[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH THE HORSE PROGRESSES WHEN ONE FORE LEG
IS INCAPACITATED.]
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.
[Illustration: THE MANNER OF ADVANCING THE HIND MEMBERS WHEN ONE POSTERIOR
FOOT IS INJURED.]
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.
[Illustration: A HORSE, HAVING ONE HIND LEG RENDERED USELESS, BY A SUDDEN
EFFORT ADVANCES THE FORE LIMBS.]
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.
[Illustration: A HORSE, IN THE ACT OF TROTTING, BEARS THE WEIGHT UPON THE
SOUND FORE FOOT.]
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.
[Illustration: A HORSE, BEING LAME IN ONE HIND FOOT, RESTS THE WEIGHT UPON
THE SOUND LIMB WHILE TROTTING.]
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.
[Illustration: ACUTE LAMENESS CAUSED BY ULCERATION WITHIN THE HIP-JOINT.]
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.
[Illustration: DRAGGING THE LIMB, THE INDICATION OF SHOULDER LAMENESS.]
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.
[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH A HORSE HAVING ULCERATION OF THE
ELBOW-JOINT ENDEAVORS TO PROGRESS.]
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.
[Illustration: THE HEALTHY LEG WHEN THE HORSE IS LYING DOWN.]
[Illustration: THE NEAREST APPROACH MADE BY THE HEEL TO THE ELBOW IN
CERTAIN CONDITIONS OF THE KNEE-JOINT.]
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.
[Illustration: A WEAK FOOT.]
[Illustration: THE SOLE OF A WEAK FOOT.]
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?
[Illustration: THE SIDE VIEW OF A PUMICED FOOT.
Showing the swollen or rounded state of the sole, with the brittle and
uneven condition of the crust.]
[Illustration: THE SOLE OF A PUMICED FOOT.
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.
[Illustration: A PUMICED FOOT DIVIDED.
Showing the altered state of the internal structures.]
[Illustration: A DISH SHOE.
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.
[Illustration: QUARTER SANDCRACK.
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.
[Illustration: A PARTIAL QUARTER SANDCRACK DRESSED AND SHOD.]
[Illustration: THE METHODS OF ERADICATING A SANDCRACK: EITHER THE
SEMICIRCULAR OR THE ANGULAR LINES ARE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE.]
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.
[Illustration: A FOOT WITH TOE SANDCRACK.
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.
[Illustration: A HORSE'S FOOT DRESSED FOR TOE SANDCRACK.
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.
[Illustration: FALSE QUARTER, OR A DEFICIENCY OF THE OUTER WALL.]
[Illustration: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RELIEF FOR FALSE QUARTER.]
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.
[Illustration: SECTION OF A HORSE'S FOOT AFFECTED WITH SEEDY TOE.]
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.
[Illustration: THE APPEARANCE PRESENTED BY SEEDY TOE WHEN THE SHOE IS
REMOVED, AND THE GROUND SURFACE OF THE WALL IS INSPECTED.]
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.
[Illustration: THE APPEARANCE OF THE HOOF AFTER THE SEEDY TOE HAS BEEN
REMOVED WITH THE KNIFE.]
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.
[Illustration: TREAD IN LIGHT HORSES.
The hind foot, from fatigue, not being removed soon enough, is wounded by
the heel of the fore shoe being placed upon its coronet.]
[Illustration: TREAD UPON THE HIND FOOT OF CART-HORSES.
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.
[Illustration: OVERREACH OCCURRING DURING THE EXHAUSTION OF LIGHT HORSES.]
=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.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM
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.
]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM
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.
[Illustration: THE SITUATION AND ASPECT OF AN OLD CORN UPON A LARGE,
FLAT FOOT.]
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration: THE SOLE OF THE HORSE'S FOOT BEING TESTED FOR CORNS.]
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.
When sanguineous or sappy corns are found, the method is, firstly to thin
the sole, so as to render it pliable, especially over the seat of corn.
Should a sappy corn have rendered the horn moist for any space, or should
the discoloration caused by sanguineous corn be of any size, it is as well
always to open the center of the part indicated: no matter should the
cut release only a small quantity of serum or a little blood. Take away
a small portion of horn; pare the sole till it yield to the pressure of
the thumb. When such a proceeding is necessary, the bars may be entirely
removed, and the wounds should be covered with some tar spread upon a
pledget of fine tow. As soon as the orifice is protected by new horn, the
horse may be shod with a leathern sole and returned to its proprietor.
Such a course would occupy little time--a week at most. Yet the great
majority of horse proprietors appear to have "flinty hearts," as nearly
all of them begrudge the necessary day of rest to the maimed animal
which has been injured in their employment. The cry, where the horse is
concerned, is "toil, toil!" The veterinary surgeon is often asked "if
_absolute_ rest is imperative." He is frequently solicited to patch up the
poor animal, so that it may do a _little_ work. As day after day passes
onward, the tone becomes more and more authoritative. The horse is at
last too often demanded from the hospital, and taken to resume ordinary
labor before the injury is effaced. Should no evil effect ensue on such a
culpable want of caution, the proprietor is apt to chuckle over his daring
with another's sufferings, and to blame the science which would not incur
risk, even to propitiate an employer.
[Illustration: THE POSTERIOR OF A HORSE'S FOOT SHOD WITH LEATHER.
The central angular mark indicates the place into which the liquid
stopping should be poured.
]
Corn is not generally reckoned unsoundness. If a horse be lame from corn,
the lameness renders the horse unsound; but the corn does not. Such is the
beauty of horse logic when pronounced in a court of justice! A corn may
suppurate, or may provoke lameness at any moment. Still the corn, in the
bleared eye of the law, is no sufficient objection to the purchase of a
horse. The suppurated corn may lead to quittor--still, corn is not legal
unsoundness. It is a pity such is the case, since it leads men to neglect
that which is removable. When the sole is high, the shoe should always
be accompanied by a leathern sole. Liquid stopping should be poured into
the open space at the back of the foot; and at every time of shoeing, the
smith should pare the sole quite thin, even until drops of blood bedew the
surface of the horn. When corns appear in flat or fleshy feet, as shoeing
time comes round, only have the very ragged portions of the frog taken
away. Have the web of the shoe narrowed so as to remove all chance of
pressure against the iron. Lower the heels of the shoe, or try a bar shoe
with the bearing taken off over the seat of corn; should that not answer,
next put on a three-quarter shoe: many horses, however, will go sound in
tips, that cannot endure any other sort of protection to the foot. By
resort to one or the other of these measures, that injury, which in the
learned eye of the law is of no consequence, but which, nevertheless, may
lead to terrible lameness, or even lay the foundation for a quittor, may
be greatly mitigated.
=Bruise of the sole= is an accident leading to effusion of blood--so
far it resembles corn; but it is dissimilar in not occurring on a part
subject to the same degree of motion, and, therefore, is not so severe in
the consequences to which it leads. It is caused by treading on a stone,
and is removed by paring off the horn which has been discolored or lies
immediately beneath the injury. It seldom leads to great lameness or gives
rise to serious results. It is treated after the manner directed for corn;
but it is always advisable to shoe once, with leather, the horse which
has suffered from bruise of the sole. The difference between corn and
bruise of the sole is simply this: the first is an injury produced by a
cause which is always within the control of the proprietor, and which, if
neglected, is likely to lead to the most disastrous maladies; the last is
purely an accident, to which any horse at any time is liable, and with
ordinary care is not likely to give rise to any serious consequences.
=Prick of the foot= is an injury incurred while the horse is being shod.
There are two sorts of this accident: one, when the nail penetrates the
fleshy substance of the sensitive laminæ and draws blood; the other is
when a nail is driven too fine, or among the soft horn which lines the
interior of the hoof, and consequently lies near to the sensitive laminæ.
The first is of the more immediate importance; but the last may be equally
serious in its effect. As the horse works, the strain upon the shoe bends
the nail fixed into soft horn. It thus is made to press upon the sensitive
laminæ, and may provoke suppuration.
[Illustration: PRICK OF THE FOOT AND BRUISE OF THE SOLE.
The smaller opening represents prick of the foot: the larger space
indicates bruise of the sole. The extent to which the horn may be
removed, in the generality of cases, is also indicated.
]
To detect whether the smith is at fault, the foot should be first squeezed
between the pincers as for common corn; then have the nails withdrawn one
by one, and mark each as it is removed. If one appears moist or wet, have
the hole of that nail freely opened. Let the shoe be replaced, leaving
that nail out. Put a little tow, covered with tar, over the wound, and
shoe with leather. If, however, lameness should still be present, the
shoe must again be taken off and the injury treated as recommended for
suppurating corn.
Blame the smith who pricks a horse and conceals the fact; punish the
fellow to the extent of your power. But the man who pricks a foot and
acquaints you with the circumstance, deserves civility. The last enables
you to take proper measures, such as paring out, etc., and thereby you
avoid all unpleasantness. The first braves chances with your living
property, and deserves to suffer if the hazard go against him.
QUITTOR.
This is a severe and painful disease. Many a horse is, at the present
moment, working with a suppurative wound above the hoof, within the
interior of which run numerous sinuses. The police arrest the driver of
the horse when the condition is so bad as permits the collar to wring the
shoulders. Of all other shapes of misery they seem ignorant. Animals limp
over the stones, every step being an agony; but the policemen look on at
such pictures with placid countenances. Horses are driven at night in a
state of glanders which renders them dangerous to mankind; yet no officer
thinks of looking at the head of an animal for the sign of suffering or
the warning of public peril. Creatures, in every stage of misery, may
be seen openly progressing along the streets of the metropolis; but so
the shoulders be sound, the brute who goads them forward performs his
office with impunity. Still, it is something gained, that the law has
recognized the want of man's _absolute_ power over the feelings of those
creatures intrusted to his care. Let us hope, as knowledge extends, the
legal perceptions will be quickened. It is partly with this view that the
present "illustrated work" is published.
=Quittor= is a terrible disorder. To comprehend thoroughly the pain which
accompanies it, the reader must understand the structures through which
it has to penetrate, and the substances it has to absorb. All parts are
slowly acted upon in proportion as they are lowly organized. Cartilage is
the structure into the composition of which no blood-vessels enter. Next
to cartilage is bone, which, though supplied with vessels, is, on account
of its mixture with inorganic matter, exposed only to slow decay, and the
exfoliation of which is effected at a vast expense to the vital energy.
These substances mainly compose the foot of the horse. In addition,
there is ligament, almost as slowly acted upon as bone; disease in which
substance is accompanied by the greatest anguish. Horn is an external
protection; but that material, though an animal secretion, is strictly
inorganic: when cut it does not occasion pain--neither does it bleed. If
a portion of horn should press upon the flesh it must be removed by the
knife; for, unlike the more highly-gifted structures, there is no chance
of its being absorbed.
The hoof, therefore, being the external covering to the foot of the horse,
and not being liable to the same action as organic secretions, serves
to confine pus or matter when generated within its substance. Pus could
work through the largest organized body; but it cannot escape through the
thinnest layer of horn. Now, most of the other substances which enter into
the composition of the horse's foot are such as slowly decay; but those
parts which slowly decay being without sensation during health, occasion
the most extreme agony when diseased.
The cause of quittor always is confined pus or matter, which, in its
effort to escape, absorbs and forms sinuses in various directions within
the sensitive substances of the hoof. In the hind feet of cart-horses
quittor generally commences at the coronet; the coronet is wounded or
bruised by the large calkins or pieces of iron turned up at the back of
the hind shoes, which are universally worn by animals of heavy draught.
Any one who has punctured or cut the coronet of a dead horse knows
this structure is as difficult to penetrate and as hard to divide as
cartilage itself; the consequence of an injury to such a part is, the
bruise produces death of some deep-seated portion of the compact coronet.
Nature, after her own fashion, proceeds to cast off that which is without
vitality, or, in other words, she divides the dead from the living tissues
by a line of suppuration; but the matter thus located cannot readily
escape through the harsh material of the horse's coronet. It is confined
and becomes corrupt, while the constant motion of the foot and the higher
organization of the secreting membrane of the horn inclines the pus to
take a downward direction. However, it is more difficult for pus to pierce
the horny sole than to penetrate the coronet; so the effort is renewed
above; numerous pipes or sinuses are thus formed upon the sensitive
laminæ; the fleshy sole is often under-run, and this mischief goes on
until the coronet, which becomes of enormous size, at last yields to the
increasing evil.
Another cause is pricking the sensitive part of the foot with a nail
during shoeing; the wound generates pus, the pus cannot penetrate the
horn, and the motion of the coffin-bone causes it to absorb upward, until
after some time it breaks forth at the coronet.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM.
Which supposed the outward covering of the coronet and the horny
wall of the hoof removed, to expose the ravages of quittor, when
commencing in the coronet of a heavy horse.
]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM.
The covering of the coronet and horny crust supposed to be absent,
and exposing the manner in which any suppurating injury to the sole
of the foot ultimately causes a wound above the hoof.
]
Another cause is corn; the horse's corn is nothing more than a bruise; the
bruise, in some instances, is severe, and takes on the suppurative action.
The pus, as before, is confined, and by the motion of the coffin-bone it
is propelled upward till it breaks forth at the coronet, which, as before,
enlarges to deformity; in short, any injury done to the sole of the foot
or to the coronet above it may produce quittor.
The leading sign of quittor, before it breaks, is a large swelling at the
coronet, attended with heat and excessive lameness. In cart-horses, it
is usually present in the hind feet; but in the lighter species it more
frequently occurs in the fore feet. It generally appears upon the inner
side of the hoof, though, of course, it has often been witnessed upon
the outer coronet. Quittor becomes a huge swelling before it breaks. The
amount of tumefaction symbolizes the amount of anguish; it is, indeed, a
most painful disorder.
[Illustration:
A QUITTOR, AS IT DENOTES ITS EXISTENCE BEFORE THE PUS ABSORBS ITS
WAY THROUGH THE CORONET.
]
[Illustration: A QUITTOR, AFTER THE PUS HAS FOUND AN EXIT AT THE CORONET.]
The animal, after the pus has found vent, becomes easier; fever departs;
the appetite returns, and the enlargement greatly diminishes.
In the cure of a quittor, all depend upon the time during which the
disease has been allowed to exist; if brought under notice at first, and
from an examination a belief is confirmed that the sinuses are wholly
superficial, no treatment is comparable to the plan of slitting them up,
the method of doing which will be described in a subsequent chapter; this
at once affords relief. The horse, which was limping lame, upon getting up
puts the foot fearlessly to the ground, and trots sound.
If we have reason to believe the matter has burrowed inwardly, and that
one or more sinuses have penetrated the cartilages and threaten the
deeper-seated parts, still we should settle with the knife all those pipes
which are superficial. This gives a better view of the structures supposed
to be diseased; then, if among the matter thrown out by the healing
wounds there is seen a speck or two of fluid, which, being gelatinous and
transparent, looks dark among the opaque creamy pus, be sure there remains
further work to be accomplished.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM.
An attempt to depict the small size of the transparent fluid,
indicating the existence of a sinus, when it appears at the wound
whence issues the stream of thick and creamy pus.
]