Diseases of the Horse's Foot

by H. Caulton Reeks

Three to four weeks later the diseased surface was gradually getting smaller, while in about six weeks it was quite healed up, the last place to heal being a strip outside the bar, between it and the wall, and a smaller spot on the bulb of the heel. These healed up simultaneously, and left the animal sound.

3. (Treatment by Pressure, H. Leeney [A]). I was consulted in the early part of last summer, before the dry weather had begun, as to a farm-horse with canker in three feet. Her shoes were in the 'disgruntle' condition we so often find on farms, that, to give her a level bearing until I should call another day with a farrier to help me to pack the foot up in the old-fashioned way, I had the remaining shoes pulled off. The case somehow dropped out of my list, and I neglected to call, until asked one day to see something else.

[Footnote A: Veterinary Records, vol. xi., p. 447]

I then found that, under a pressure of work, the animal had been used in the shafts of a farm-cart on tolerably level ground, and when the dry weather had already set in. There was a distinct improvement in all the diseased feet, and as she was badly wanted I contented myself with rasping off some broken crust, and supplied some caustic dressing for use at night. Without shoes she worked continuously on the dry and hard meadow-land for several weeks, and was practically cured in something less than three months. My astringent or caustic lotion may have had something to do with the cure of the deep-seated parts, but the bare recital of the case should be sufficient to show that it is all a question of bearing, or nearly so.

7. SPECIFIC CORONITIS.

Definition.—In describing this condition under the above heading, we are following the lead of Mr. Malcolm. We may define it as a chronic inflammatory condition of the keratogenous membrane, usually confined to that of the coronary cushion, the ergots and the chestnuts, but sometimes extending to that of the frog and the sole, characterized by a malsecretion of the affected membrane similar to that observed in canker.

Causes.—The cause which we have indicated for canker—namely, a local specific one, is in all probability the one operating here. Apparently there is a variance of opinion as to whether the condition is actually canker or not. We think, however, that the character of the secretion of the affected membranes, the appearance of the growths, the manner in which they react to the hot iron, the comparative absence of pain, and other points of similarity, point to the fact that the two conditions are actually identical. In other words, the cause is precisely the same, and the only point of difference is the alteration in the point of attack.

Symptoms.—Like canker, the disease is insidious in onset. In precisely similar manner the horn, and in this case the skin of the coronet, is underrun. Later there is the partial shedding and fissuring of the undermined horn and the exuding of the characteristic discharge—in this case not so watery as that of canker. The caseous material of canker is also present, as is a disposition to hypertrophy of the exposed sensitive structures. What horn is left becomes rough and irregularly fissured, and has been likened by some observers to deeply-wrinkled bark of an old tree. A peculiar characteristic of this condition is the state of the ergots and chestnuts. Here the keratogenous membrane participates in the diseased process, and their horn becomes dry and brittle, and readily splits into small fibrous bundles very similar to the fibroid growth described in canker. These excrescences are easily separated from the sensitive structures beneath, and the exposed surface is seen to be more or less moist, or even exhibiting a slight oozing of blood.

Again, as in canker, the deeper layers of the sensitive structures appear to be normal, the horn-secreting layers being the only ones affected. According to Malcolm, the disease is in its nature equally as inveterate as canker, but it is easier to treat, on account of its more exposed position.

Treatment.—This is exactly that as described for canker.