Corns
The pressure of the bor on one side of the seat of the disease, and of the horny substance of a contracted heel on the other side, added to a tight shoe, causes inflammation, which, when it becomes chronic, is styled a corn.
A corn may be detected by paring the foot close. It is not necessary, as recommended by some authorities, to use pincers, squeezing the hoof all around to find the corn, thereby giving the horse unnecessary pain. They are to be found only in the heel, and do not result from bruises, but from pressure.
Treatment.—The shoe having been removed, the inside of the hoof should be pared out thoroughly all around, and if a long hoof, it should be shortened. If the corn is visible, the heel should be pared down and the bors weakened, opening the heel as far back as possible (see Plate No. 11), and fitting an open shoe, so as to throw the pressure off the heel. The pressure having been removed, the corn will disappear, or grow down in the quarter, in which case the farrier should fit a bor shoe, so as to throw the weight off the diseased heel and partly on the frog, the elastic surface of which will prevent severe pressure.
If a horse has a long foot, the pressure is more on the corns, because his foot is in front of him, and an over-proportion of his weight comes on his heels. A horse with a long foot is like a man with a thick sole to his boot and no heels, for with his heels he strikes the ground first.
Every horse should have his feet well under him, and not in front of him. This fact should be taken into consideration when fitting the open shoe.
Inflammation should be reduced by placing a swab over the coronet, and using a hot poultice of linseed meal for the foot.
The pressure having been removed from a corn for a fortnight, it will be observed to have a light color, representing the color of a new corn, and if properly treated, it will gradually disappear, and be displaced by a healthy growth of foot.
The horse should be allowed at least a month in which to recover from his lameness; but it is not necessary to turn him out to grass, and care should be taken that his feet are closely attended to, having the shoes renewed about once in a fortnight.
Contraction is the result of neglect, want of natural moisture, and tight shoeing. The result is lameness, if in one foot, and if in both feet, the loss of their free, natural use, causing short steps and stumbling. If the inner quarter is contracted, it is the cause, if not soon remedied, of quarter-crack. The practice of fitting a shoe so as to fit tighter on the inner than the outer quarter, to prevent interfering, renders it more liable to contraction.
The want of proper moisture causes the horn to shrink, and prevents the foot from expanding naturally. This should be remedied by soaking the feet, if feverish, in warm, and if healthy, in cold water, twice a day, an hour at each time. This moisture should be applied at least two hours before the horse is used. This will render the foot elastic, and prevent abuse from traveling over rough roads.
By reference to accompanying plate, No. 12, the difference will be observed between a natural and a contracted foot. The quarters growing toward each other in the contracted, cause the coffin-bone to lose its proper shape, and forcing the sensitive frog upwards from its proper place, causes scratches and thrush.
Treatment of contraction, briefly speaking, is expansion. The foot should be thoroughly prepared in the following manner: If the horse is lame, the farrier should shorten the toe, lower the foot all around, and open the heels back until the blood is drawn. The sole of the foot should be pared as closely as possible on each side of the frog, in the manner shown by the illustration on Plate No. 12, “natural foot.” The frog should be lowered, but the side should not be cut. A groove should be made with a rasp just under and parallel with the coronet on each side (see Plate No. 14) deep enough to draw blood, then with a fine shoeing knife, cut little notches down from the cornet and across the groove at certain equal distances, as shown by illustration No. 14, the entire length of the groove. These notches should also be deep enough to draw blood. This will relieve the pressure caused by contraction from the cartilages on both sides, and allow them to resume their proper shape.
Having the foot ready for a shoe, a hand should be placed on each side of the foot, pressing it outward in the manner shown by Plate No, 15. The shoe must be very carefully fitted, and must have eight nail-holes, for the reason that it is the heel nails that relieve a horse while in contraction.
The shoe should be fitted so as to project at least a quarter of an inch on each side of the foot, so as to see the nail-holes projecting on each side of the outer and inner quarter. Having this accomplished, the bearing should be equal; the nails must be driven first toward the toe, then toward the heel, driving them half-way, and using the utmost care and skill; the higher the nails are driven the better. The shoe being fitted so wide, there is no fear of pricking.
The nails toward the heel should be driven by alternate taps on each side, because the foot expands on each side on account of being pared so thin on either side of the frog, the source of the expansion.
The heel nails should relieve the wings of the coffin-bone, which suffer most while in a state of contraction, and allow them to come back to their proper position.
Considerable soreness will result from this mode of treatment, which can be remedied by using thin poultices of linseed meal, applied as hot as possible, to be renewed at least once every two days for the period of two weeks. The foot should also be thoroughly soaked in a bucket of warm water for half an hour at each renewal of the poultice; this will remove all soreness, and prevent the foot from shrinking when exposed to the weather. The expansion treatment should be continued gradually until the coffin-bone resumes its natural shape; when this is accomplished, the growing hoof will naturally accommodate itself to the bone.
The severe treatment recommended is necessary only in an aggravated case causing lameness. It can be so modified by cutting the hoof, and expanding the foot gradually, as to allow the horse to be used while under treatment, if he has not been disabled.