Horseshoeing Part 6

A Text-Book of Horseshoeing

by A. Lungwitz and John W. Adams Copyright 1897

CHAPTER VII.

GENERAL REMARKS CONCERNING THE SHOEING OF DEFECTIVE HOOFS AND LAME HORSES.

The boundary between health and disease of the hoof is difficult to determine, especially when we have to deal with minor defects of structure or shape of the hoof. Ordinarily, we first consider a hoof diseased when it causes lameness. However, we know that diseases of the hoof may exist without lameness. Therefore, a hoof should be regarded as diseased or defective when the nature of the horn, the form of the hoof, or the parts enclosed by it, deviate from what we consider as normal or healthy, whether the service of the animal is influenced by it or not.

Front hoofs become diseased or defective more readily than hind hoofs, because they bear greater weight, have more slanting walls, and are more exposed to drying influences. All normally wry hoofs and acute-angled hoofs become more readily diseased than regular and upright (stumpy) hoofs.

The indications of the various diseases of the hoof are discussed in the following chapters. We shall in this chapter undertake only a brief general discussion of inflammation of the pododerm. This inflammation, known as pododermatitis, always manifests itself by lameness and, under closer examination of the foot, by increased warmth, pain, and stronger pulsation of the digital and plantar arteries. The pain produces either a timid, shortened (sore) gait, or well-marked lameness, especially upon hard ground. Increased sensitiveness of the pododerm is detected by compression of the hoof with the pincers (hoof-testers), or with greater certainty by lightly tapping the hoof. The increased warmth of a part or of the entire hoof is detected by feeling with the hand. Intense pain and greatly increased warmth, with a moderate, diffuse swelling of the soft parts between the hoof and fetlock-joint, indicate suppuration within the hoof.

The examination of horses lame in the feet must always be cautious and searching, and should begin with the moving and judging of the horse as already described. The faults detected in the hoof or in the shoeing, the pain and increased warmth of the hoof, will not leave us in doubt as to whether the animal is lame in the hoof or not. However, should there be a doubt, we must carefully examine all the joints and tendons of the foot and, if necessary, of the limb above, and observe the animal’s manner of travelling at a walk and at a trot, on soft and on hard ground, in a straight line and in a circle.

The removal of the shoe should be performed with greatest caution. Under certain conditions the second shoe should not be removed until the first has been replaced. The same caution must be observed in paring the hoof, which is to be regarded as a part of the examination of the hoof. The paring of a hoof for this purpose often differs somewhat from the preparation of a sound hoof for the shoe, and while it is necessary because it frequently furnishes the first trustworthy indication of the trouble, it must be done with circumspection and intelligence.

The causes of diseases of the hoof are very numerous, for many external influences act injuriously upon the hoof. In addition to too great dryness, want of care (neglected shoeing), and premature, unreasonable, cruel use of the horse, should be mentioned particularly injudicious dressing of the hoof and direct and indirect faults in the shoeing. The pododerm, shut in between the hard os pedis and the stiff, unyielding horn capsule, is frequently exposed to bruising and other injuries, from which arise most of the defects of the hoof itself. All these things lead, under certain conditions, to lameness.

Treatment. — First of all, the discovered causes should be removed, or, if this is not possible, as is frequently the case, they should be ameliorated. Very often the lameness may be removed by proper shoeing, a change in the animal’s work, and better care of the hoof. When there is intense inflammation within the foot, the shoe should be removed for a few days. When the inflammation is moderate and confined to a small area, it is usually sufficient to alter the shoeing by regulating unnatural relations of height in the different parts of the wall, and by removing all superfluous horn from the wall and sole (to a less degree from the frog), partly for the purpose of rendering the horn capsule more yielding, and partly to make the poultices which are used more effective. The shoe is then to be so applied that the diseased region will be relieved of the bodyweight, and will remain free from all pressure from the shoe. This can be done partly by making the underlying branch of the shoe somewhat wider and longer than the other, and partly by cutting down the bearing-edge of the wall where this is possible without weakening it too much, otherwise by concaving or beating down the upper surface of the shoe. By reason of the fact that the posterior half of the hoof is the seat of most diseases of the hoof, it is to be recommended that the nail-holes in shoes used in these diseases be placed as far as possible in the anterior half of the shoe, and in some special cases distributed evenly around the toe. Among shoes suitable for diseased hoofs the bar-shoe (Fig. 185) holds the first place, because it renders superfluous many other shoes specially designed for various diseases of the hoof. It is made like an ordinary flat shoe, except that it requires a somewhat longer piece of iron; the ends of the branches are bent inward over a dull corner of the anvil, bevelled, laid one over the other, and welded together to form the bar. The width and thickness of the bar should be the same as of the rest of the shoe, and its frog-surface should be slightly concave.

The bar-shoe is valuable, because it protects from pressure diseased sections of the wall which have been laid free, allows part of the body-weight to be borne by the frog, and restores normal activity to the disturbed physiological movements of the foot. By using it we can either gain a more extensive bearing-surface for the hoof, or can make it easier for the surface that bears the weight to do the work. If on account of weakness of the bearing-surface of the hoof, or from any other cause, we wish to distribute the body-weight over the entire plantar surface of the foot with the exception of the painful region, we add a leather sole to the bar-shoe.

In this case it is necessary to place holes in the ends of the branches of the shoe, so that we may rivet the leather firmly to the shoe with small nails. The shoe should be made somewhat wider than the hoof, and the clips somewhat higher than usual. After fitting the shoe the grooves for the clips are cut in the leather, the latter is riveted to the shoe, and all leather projecting beyond the outer edge of the shoe is trimmed away. The lacunae of the frog and other concavities of the sole are then thickly smeared with wood-tar and afterwards filled up with oakum to such a degree that the packing will bear some of the body-weight when the shoe and leather sole are in position. This packing is of great importance, because it prevents the filtering in from behind of sand and slime, preserves the toughness and pliability of the horn, breaks shock, and produces a gradual expansion of the posterior half of the hoof. Before nailing the shoe to the foot the leather sole should be soaked in water.

Classification of Diseases of the Hoof.

INFLAMMATIONS OF THE PODODERM.

1, Nailing (pricking and close nailing); 2, street-nail; 3, calk-wounds; 4, corns (bruised sole); 5 bruised heels; 6, laminitis (founder); 7, keraphyllocele (tumor of horny leaves).

DEFECTS OF THE HORN CAPSULE AND LATERAL CARTILAGES.

(a) Changes of form: 1, flat hoof and full hoof (dropped sole); 2, upright hoof (stumpy or stubby hoof); 3, contracted hoof; 4, wry hoof; 5, crooked hoof; 6, ossification of the lateral cartilage (side-bone).

(b) Disturbances of continuity of the horn capsule: 1, cracks; 2, clefts; 3, loose wall; 4, hollow wall; 5, thrush.

CHAPTER VIII.

INFLAMMATIONS OF THE PODODERM (PODODERMATITIS).

1. Nailing.

Wounds of the velvety tissue of the sole or of the podophyllous tissue of the wall, caused by nails which have been driven into the hoof for the purpose of fastening the shoe, are usually termed “nailing.”

We distinguish direct and indirect nailing; the former is noticed immediately, the latter later.

In direct nailing the nail passes directly into the pododerm (velvety tissue of the sole, podophyllous tissue); the wound produced may vary from a simple puncture of the pododerm to chipping of the border of the os pedis, and is always accompanied by bleeding, even though it may not always be noticed.

In indirect nailing the nail does not pass entirely through the horn capsule, but very close to the sensitive tissues, and crowds the soft horn inward against them. This inward bulging presses upon the pododerm and causes inflammation and lameness, which may not manifest themselves for several days.

Symptoms. — The first symptom of direct nailing is instant pain indicated by flinching or a jerking of the limb, showing that the nail has taken a wrong course, and then a more or less profuse hemorrhage. Usually the blood flows from the nail-hole, or the nail when withdrawn may merely show a bloodstain at its point; however, internal bleeding may occur without any external manifestations. The symptoms of indirect nailing are entirely different. In this case pain does not arise immediately, but later, sometimes as soon as the horse attempts to bear his weight upon the shod foot. In the latter case, on holding up the opposite foot the animal sways backward and throws his weight upon the holder, or becomes restless. As a rule, the consequences of indirect nailing are first manifested after two or three days, infrequently from the eighth to the fourteenth day, as inflammation within the hoof and lameness, at which time a careful examination will usually reveal increased warmth of the hoof, pain upon pressure with the hoof-testers and on tapping the hoof lightly, some swelling of the entire foot, increased pulsation of the digital arteries, and unwillingness of the animal to place all or perhaps any of its weight upon the foot.

Suspicion of nailing should be entertained if the shoeing be recent, the hoof appear too small in relation to the body-weight, the walls have been thinned by rasping or have been broken away, or if the nails have been driven too high or very irregularly.

Causes. — The most common causes are mistakes in shoeing. In the majority of cases the cause is a disregard of the rule that the nails should penetrate the white line. 1, Using badly-punched shoes; 2, excessive paring and shortening of the hoof; 3, weakening of the lower border of the wall by excessive rasping away of the outside (Fig. 187, c); 4, mistakes in fitting the shoe, especially applying shoes that are too narrow, letting the toe-clips too deep into the horn, by which the nail-holes near the toe, instead of falling upon the white line, are carried back upon the edge of the sole, or using shoes in which the nail-holes are too wide or improperly directed; 5, using nails that are split, incomplete, badly formed and beveled, and too large; 6, starting nails too deep or with the bevel on the outside, or drawing them too tight. As occasional causes may be mentioned: 7, old nail-stubs in the horn; 8, walls that are very thin or broken away; 9, a soft, crumbling wall, which alters the sound and feeling of the nail as it is driven, and makes it difficult to judge of its course; 10, restlessness of the animal while being shod.

Examination. — Press with the hoof-testers upon the sole and clinches; tap lightly upon the clinches. If these acts cause pain, there can be little doubt that the nail is responsible for the damage. Remove the shoe by drawing each nail separately and carefully. Examine the nails with reference to their direction and size, as well as to staining with blood, blood-serum, or pus. Immediately after removing the shoe, look for the point of entrance of each nail into the hoof, and if a nail-hole be found upon the edge of the sole (Fig. 187, b) instead of in the white line, it is highly probable that the nail which passed in at that place pressed upon the sensitive tissues of the foot. Every nail-hole should then be searched by passing a clean new nail into it and pressing its point towards the soft tissues at various depths; any indication of pain caused by this act is pretty sure proof of nailing. It stands to reason that the character of the nail-holes in the shoe should be closely examined.

Treatment. — When the foot has sustained an ordinary simple prick with a nail, the latter should be left out and the hole well filled with wax. As a rule, no serious results follow. In severe direct nailing the entire shoeing should be most carefully examined, and only after everything is found to be right, and the shoe fits in such a manner that the nails can only penetrate the wall from the white line, can it be regarded as correct. The offending nail-hole is then to be closed with wax. According to the intensity of the wound we may expect a more or less pronounced inflammation of the pododerm, and this is to be combated by resting the animal and cooling the foot.

If the wound is clean and recent, enlarging the opening in the horn by cutting and boring can have no reasonable object; the wound by such an act will not be made smaller, but larger.

Frequently, however, the wound is not observed or suspected until the pain has become very intense (indirect nailing, nailpressure); in such cases the offending nail when withdrawn is apt to he covered with pus or a dark, thin, ill-smelling liquid. In such a case the liquid, whatever its nature may be, must be given free escape. In order to accomplish this it is entirely sufficient to cut away a section of the wall from the nailhole outward, not greater than the width of the little finger, and then to assist in the discharge of the pus by placing the foot in a warm bath; it is entirely wrong, in fact, reprehensible, to remove all horn of the wall and sole which has been loosened from the soft parts by the suppurative process. After the escape of the inflammatory fluids, the wall and sole will form the best-fitting and most suitable protective dressing for the diseased region until it has secreted new horn. If, after removal of the nail and pus, the pain does not diminish, warm disinfecting baths of one to two parts of creolin, or the same amount of lysol, to one hundred parts of water at a temperature of about 90° F. will be of especial benefit; they will not only soften the horn, but by their moisture and warmth will directly diminish the pain and have a healing influence upon the suppurating surfaces. The warm baths must actually be warm and be kept warm. Antiseptic solutions at room temperature are much less efficient.

If the pain has not been very pronounced, or if it has been greatly alleviated by two or three warm baths, then, as a rule, it is sufficient to put a few drops of creolin upon the inflamed surface, and to close the opening with oakum (carbolized oakum or carbolized cotton is better).

The horse which has been nailed will be again perfectly serviceable after a few days if shod with a shoe which does not press upon the inflamed region. The shoe does not press when it rests only upon the bearing-edge of the wall, when the white line and the edge of the sole are entirely free of the shoe, and no nails are driven in the immediate vicinity of the wound.

Even though, as we have seen, nailing in the great majority of cases is not particularly serious to the horse and owner, yet we should never forget that tetanus (lockjaw), a disease which is nearly always fatal to horses, may follow. Nailing, however insignificant it may seem, may under conditions lead to the death of the horse.

2. Street-Nail.

The condition caused by accidental injury of the sensitive structures covered by the horny sole, such as the velvety tissue of the sole and frog, plantar cushion, perforans tendon, navicular bone, os pedis, or the pedal articulation, by sharp objects, especially nails, is called “penetrating streetnail,” or simply “street-nail.” The resistance of the ground to the weight of the body drives these penetrating objects through the sole or frog in to the foot.

Hind hoofs are more often affected than fore-hoofs. A favorite point of entrance is the lateral lacuna of the frog. Street-nail is favored by excessive thinning of the sole and frog.

Symptoms. — The symptoms are, as a rule, sudden pain followed by lameness. The first assistance is usually sought in the shoeing-shop. If the cause of lameness be found to be a penetrating nail, piece of glass, or other pointed foreign body, it must be carefully drawn out, in doing which we should remove the entire object, not allowing pieces to break off and remain in the wound. Since it is always important to know in what direction and how deep the foreign body has penetrated, in order to be able to estimate the gravity of the wound, it is advisable in all cases to preserve the penetrating body, that it may be shown to the veterinarian, in case his services are required.

In slight injuries to the velvety tissue of the sole or frog, accompanied with moderate pain, it is of no benefit to enlarge the opening, though the horn of the sole or frog should be thinned for the space of an inch or more around the wound, followed by cooling applications. Deep, penetrating wounds accompanied with intense pain require the attention of a veterinarian.

Often some form of dressing is necessary, and this is usually held in place by a special shoe. For slight injuries, such splint-dressings as are shown in Figs. 188 and 189 are sufficient. Whether such a dressing be applied to the front or hind feet the shoe should be well concaved upon the hoof-surface. The dressing is held in place by thin splints of tough wood, which are firmly wedged between the shoe and hoof.

In those rare cases in which it is necessary to maintain continuous pressure upon the seat of the wound, and to protect the entire plantar surface of the hoof, a covered shoe (Figs. 190 and 191) is recommended. This shoe is provided with a sheet-iron cover, having at the toe a spur which fits into a corresponding hole in the toe of the shoe, and fastened at the heels by means of screw heel-calks.

3. Calk Wounds of the Coronet.

All tread-wounds of the coronet, caused by the calks of the opposite shoe, by the shoes of other horses, or by forging, are known as calk wounds, or simply as “calking.” The injury itself is either a bruise or a bruised wound, followed by inflammation of the coronary cushion and an interruption in the formation of horn at that point. It occurs most often in winter from sharp calks, especially on the hind feet. The common seat of the injury is the coronet of the toe and inner side of the foot.

The inflammation terminates either in resolution — that is, passes gradually away, leaving the tissues apparently normal — or in suppuration. The perioplic horn-band, which is usually loosened from the perioplic band by the injury, does not again unite. For this reason, and because of the interruption in the formation of horn at the seat of injury, there results a transverse depression or cleft in the wall.

The shoeing has to deal only with the lameness that may be present as a result of the calking. The section of the wall containing the lesion should be shortened, so that it will not press upon the shoe. Serious calk wounds, as a rule, require treatment by a veterinarian.

4. Corns (Bruised Sole).

The expression “corns” is applied to nearly all bruises of the pododerm of the posterior half of the foot, with the exception of the frog, which are apparent to the eye as yellowish, reddish, or bluish-red discolorations of the horn of the sole and white line.

The surface of the pododerm (fleshy leaves and villi) is chiefly involved, and almost without exception there is rupture of small blood-vessels and an outpouring of blood between the pododerm and the horn. The blood penetrates the horn-tubes and causes the above-mentioned staining. By subsequent growth of horn these stained patches are carried downward, and are finally uncovered and brought to sight in paring the hoof.

The seat of corns is either on the fleshy leaves of the quarters, or on the velvety tissue of the sole in the angle between the wall and the bar, or on the fleshy leaves of the bars. Thus we distinguish corns of the wall, sole, and bars.

Corns affect chiefly the front hoofs, and more often the inner half than the outer. Unshod feet are seldom affected.

According to the intensity of the lesions we distinguish:

1. Dry Corns. — The red-stained horn is dry, and there is seldom lameness.

2. Suppurating Corns. — They are the result of intense bruising followed by inflammation. The pus is either thin and dark grayish in color, denoting a superficial inflammation of the pododerm, or yellowish and thick, denoting a deep inflammation of the pododerm. In the latter case a veterinarian should be called. Lameness is usually pronounced.

3. Chronic Corns. — In this case there is vivid discoloration of horn in all possible hues. The horn is either soft, moist, and lardy, or crumbling, cracked, and at times bloody. The inner surface of the horn capsule has lost its normal character, and is covered with horny swellings or nodules (Fig. 192, a). Sometimes the wing of the os pedis on that side has become morbidly enlarged and loosened. A short, cautious gait alternates with well-marked lameness; the latter appears whenever the shoe presses too firmly on the corn, or when the hoof becomes too dry.

The causes, aside from the form and quality of the hoofs and the position of the limbs, lie in injudicious dressing of the hoof and in faulty shoes. Too much trimming of wide and flat hoofs, excessive weakening of the quarters, sole, bars, and frog of all other hoofs, while the toe is usually left too long, are the usual causes. Shortening one quarter too much in relation to the other, so that the foot is unbalanced and the lower side overloaded, is a frequent cause. Hollowing the sole and bars excessively and unnecessary thinning of the branches of the sole in the search for corns are also causes.

Among faulty shoes we may mention those not level on the hoofsurface, trough-shaped, too short in the branches, shoes which do not completely cover the bearing-surface of the hoof, or whose bearing-surface at the ends of the branches is directed downward and inward so that the quarters are squeezed together when the weight is put on the foot. Insufficient concaving of the shoe is often an exciting cause of corns in flat feet and in those with dropped soles. A well-formed shoe which does not rest firmly upon the hoof, or which has been shifted as a result of careless nailing, may as readily cause bruising of the quarters as neglected shoeing. The latter causes, as a rule, corns of the sole. It is very rarely that corns are caused by stones fastened between the frog and branches of the shoe or in unshod hoofs by pebbles becoming wedged in the white line.

Dryness is particularly injurious to the hoofs, and is in the highest degree favorable to the production of corns. It renders the hoof stiff and inelastic, and first manifests itself by a short, cautious (sore) gait when the horse is first put to work.

Treatment. — First, removal of the causes, by restoring tho proper form to the hoof through shortening a toe which is too long (especially apt to be the case in acute-angled hoofs), cutting down quarters which are too high, and carefully removing all dead horn from the branches of the sole, especially in acute-angled hoofs.

Deeply digging out a small area of blood-stained horn is injurious. It is much better to thin the horn of the entire branch of the sole uniformly, in doing which we should avoid wounding the velvety tissue of the sole or drawing blood.

The proper shoe is the bar-shoe, except when both cartilages are ossified. The pressure should not be taken from the quarters unless they are sore.

When there is a suppurating corn, the shoe should be left off several days. A chronic corn should be protected continuously from pressure by the shoe. This is accomplished by using a bar-shoe with leather sole. A three-quarter shoe is not sufficient to properly protect a hoof affected with a chronic corn, if the animal must perform exacting labor on hard roads.

The care of the hoof consists in keeping it cool, moderately moist, and pliant.

5. Inflammation of the Heels.

Inflammation of the bulbs of the plantar cushion (heels) is usually caused by such external influences as bruising. It occurs in both shod and unshod feet. The symptoms are: increased warmth, pain and swelling, sometimes infiltration of the tissues with blood, accompanied by a short, cautious gait, or, if only one foot is affected, by well-marked lameness.

The most frequent causes are: going barefoot upon hard (frozen), uneven ground; shoeing hoofs having low heels with flat shoes that are too short; sometimes too much frog-pressure by the bar of a bar-shoe; forging and grabbing.

The treatment first indicated is a cooling application in the form of an ice-poultice, or a soaking in cold water. Later, astringent (drying) applications are of benefit, especially if the perioplic horn-ring has partially loosened from the bulbs of the heels; for example, a weak solution in water of sulphate of copper (1 to 20), followed by the application of a shoe with heel-calks, which is quite long in the branches and which must not press upon the wall of the quarters.

6. Laminitis (Founder).

By this name we designate a peculiar inflammation of the pododerm at the toe. It arises suddenly in well-nourished and apparently healthy horses, following excessive work or long-continued rest in the stable, and frequently leads to a decided change of form of the hoof.

The disease is always accompanied with intense pain. It most often affects both front feet, more rarely all four feet, or only one foot. In the first case the two front feet are planted far in advance of the body, and the hind feet well forward under the belly. When all four feet are affected, travelling is exceedingly difficult, often impossible; in this case there is nearly always a high fever over the entire body.

The seat of the disease is in the fleshy leaves about the toe, more rarely upon the side walls and quarters. Depending upon the intensity of the inflammation, the fleshy leaves are more or less loosened from the horny leaves, as a result of which there is a change of position of the os pedis, with a simultaneous sinking of the coronet at the toe. This produces a change of form of the hoof. The quarters become higher. Rings form upon the wall, and their course is quite characteristic of the disease. At the toe these rings are quite close to one another, but as they pass back towards the quarters they gradually separate from one another and recede from the coronary band (Figs. 193, 194, and 195).

The wall at the toe is sunken just under the coronet; its lower part, on the contrary, is thrust forward. Later, the white line becomes pathologically widened. The horn of the white line is dry, crumbling, and easily broken down, so that a break in continuity (crack) is apt to occur between the wall and sole, and lead to the formation of a hollow wall (“seedy toe”). Where the inflammation is moderate and is not repeated, healing usually takes place and the horn grows down regularly and in normal direction from the coronet. However, a rather brittle condition of the horn remains permanently. If, on the contrary, the inflammation was very severe or repeated several times, the horny sole becomes flat just in front of the point of the frog as a result of the sinking of the os pedis, or it may even drop below the level of the wall (full hoof, dropped sole). Indeed, it even happens at times that the toe of the os pedis perforates the horny sole just in front of the point of the frog. The wall at the toe, which was previously but little altered in form, is now thrust prominently forward.

The inflammation of the pododerm may under certain conditions and by skillful veterinary treatment be removed, so that the characteristic changes of form and quality of the hoof will not occur. But if this is not accomplished, as is often the case, the disease will be obstinate, and permanent morbid changes of the horn capsule take place.

A horse in such a condition can be used, but the gait will be short and stiff. The hoofs are shuffled forward and set heels first to the ground, a manner of travelling that rapidly wears away the branches of the shoe.

In dressing a foundered hoof the outer circumference of the sole is the guide. The thick projecting wall at the toe may be removed with the rasp without injuring the foot. The sole should be spared, but the quarters should be lowered to improve the setting of the foot to the ground.

The choice of the shoe will depend upon the shape and nature of the sole. If this is still concave, an ordinary shoe may be used. If, however, the sole is flat or dropped, it must be protected by an open shoe with a broad web, or with a bar-shoe (Fig. 197), which is of especial value when the bearing-edge of the wall is weak or broken away.

As long as there is pain on pressure about the toe there should be no toe-clip, but two side-clips. The wall between these clips should be lowered a tenth to an eighth of an inch to prevent pressure of the shoe upon the sensitive tissues of the toe (Fig. 195). The nails should be as small as possible and placed well back towards the quarters. No nail should be driven in the wall at the toe when there is separation of sole and wall at the toe (hollow wall, seedy-toe).

The shoes of horses affected with founder often work forward as a result of the animals travelling upon their heels. To prevent this evil, clips may be raised at the ends of the branches of an open shoe, or one clip in the middle of the bar, in case a bar-shoe is used (Fig. 197).

7. Keraphyllocele (Horn Tumor).

A keraphyllocele is a more or less sharply bounded horn tumor projecting from the inner surface of the wall.

Its occurrence is rare. Its favorite seat is at the toe. It rarely causes lameness. It can only be diagnosed with certainty when it extends downward to the lower border of the wall. In this case there may be seen a halfmoon- shaped thickening of the white line which rounds inward upon the edge of the sole, and is of a waxen color. Frequently the horn at this place crumbles away, leaving a more or less dark-colored cavity from which there sometimes escapes a small quantity of dark-grayish pus.

Causes. — Chronic inflammation of the podophyllous tissue, resulting from compression or bruising. Keraphyllocele frequently follows a complete toe-crack of long duration, or a deep calk-wound at the coronet.

Prognosis. — Unfavorable, whether there is lameness or not. If there is no lameness it is very apt to arise later, and if lameness is already present it can only be removed by an operation, which should be performed by a veterinarian. A return of the lameness following hard work at a trot upon hard roads is always to be feared.

Shoeing. — An ordinary shoe well concaved underneath the inflamed region, which should be relieved of all pressure.

Should lameness persist, it will be necessary to remove a strip of the wall from the plantar border to the coronet in order to remove the horn tumor. The fleshy leaves which have secreted the tumor must be extirpated and the surface of the os pedis well scraped, or the growth will return.