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 If the leg, while undergoing the operation, be withdrawn near either of the nails, the ideas take a different direction to that of corn; but if the foot be held steady, the seat of corn is lastly squeezed.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.
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.