The Illustrated Horse Doctor / Being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjected

by Edward Mayhew

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.

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the smith is at fault, the foot should be first squeezed between the pincers as for common corn; then have the nails withdrawn one by one, and mark each as it is removed.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.