Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1873 — Corus in Horses. [ARTICLE]

Corus in Horses.

There is a wide spread fallacy that corns usually depend upon some peculiar form of foot, and that with such feet they are, like Coughs and colds, almost unavoidable, even with tlip.best management. The truth Is, that corns are always caused by an ill-fitting shoe. So long as a level shoe rests evenly upon the proper bearing surface of the foot, no corn can occur, but wbenthesiirface pT -either footor shoe is irregular, then the iirost prominent point of contact is pressed upon unevenly and bruised. A corn is a bruise and nothing more, save that usage has confined the term to bruises of one part of the foot—the angle of sole between the wall and bar. This part of the foot is most liable to injury by uneven pressure, because it is in relation to the termination of the shoe. If the end of the shoe does not reach tlie extremity of the heel, it forms a point upon which the yielding horti is pressed- at every step. Short shoes then are most objectionable, and we find, a frequent cause of-corns. - They are often purposely employed on hunters, and on horses with capped elbows, seldom really necessary, hut if so, should be very carefully fitted. By way of avoiding corns it is the common practice of many farriers to “ease the heel of the shoe,” that is, to so fit-it .that the last inch of the shoe takes no bearing on the foot. A space is thus left between the shoe and foot in which one might place a penny piece. This is one of the greatest evils of shoeing, for not only is an inch of the best bearing surface of the foot unused, but increased pressure is thrown upon the spot where shoe and foot are in contact. Instead of preventing corns, it is a common cause, and why it should be so will be understood when we say that the seat of the corn is about an inch in front of the extremity of the foot, in fact, just at the spot upon which this “eased heel” throws most weight. Corns may be due to an uneven surface of foot, not of shoe, as when the wall at the heels is lower than the bar, in which case a level shoe is almost certain to act as an exciting cause. Lameness from corn usually shows itself about a week after the horse 4s-shod, depending, of course, upon the degree-of-pressurc existing. In some cases, however, a corn is the cause of lameness after a shoe has been on for a month or more. This may be due to tlie shoe having shifted ori the foot, or to the growth of horn carrying the shoe forwards and within th’e wall. The inside heels of the fore feet are most commonly affected, because the shoes for them are always fitted closer on the inside than the out, and hind feet are hardly ever affected, because the shoes for them are always fitted long and wide. Let us repeat, a corn is simply a bruise, similar in every way to a bruise of our nails. There is' injury to the Sensitive parts, followed by discoloration of horn. When a horse is lame, if on removing the shoe and gently trying the foot all round with the pincers, tenderness is shown at the heel, we suspect a bruise or corn. The farrier would at once cut away the horn at the part until he saw it discolored, and then would say he “had found a corn.” Imagining this discolored horn to be the offending substance, he would proceed to remove it, layer after layer, until he reached the sensitive and now bleeding tissues. We need hardly.point out the absurdity of this practice. Tlie stained horn is simply a sign of injury to the sensitive foot, and the removal—of this horn, while it does no good to the bruise, leaves the foot miserably weak for weeks or perhaps months. What would be thought of a surgeon, who, because his patient had a discolored nail, the result of a bruise, proposed to remove the stained horn and lay bare the sensitive tissues? No medical man would do such a thing, and no patient would permit it. Yet veterinary surgeons and farriers follow this practice on the horse’s foot, and horse owners assent to it. The result is, that corns assume a fictitious importance, and the heel, robbed of its horn, is liable to fresh injury for a long time. We may be told that the horn is remov ed so as to release any matter formed as the result of inflammation. It is certainly a plausible excuse,’ but not a true one. A professional man should be able to diagnose the presence of matter without injurious explorations, and matter is never present unless a horse is worked for two or three days after the appearance. In about eighty per cent, of the cases in Which a farrier professes to have let out matter, he has simply let out a straw-col-ored effusion which would have been naturally reabsorbed in a day or two after the cause of injury—the shoe—had been removed. The remaining percentage of corn easessliow matter because from negligence or ignorance the shoe has been allowed to remain on the foot, continuing the injury, and thus set up active inflammation. The rational treatment of Corn is to remove the shoe, and foment the- foot with warm water—in other words, to remove the cause of injury, and help nature to reabsorb any effusion. If matter forms, it must be thrown off. Nature does this through an opening at the top of the wall, between hair and hoof; man endeavors'to do it by an opening through the sole. Now, we believe in nature’s plan, and experience show us that it is the best, if not the quickest, course for the horse’s foot. Warm fomentations facilitate this course, and therefore the treatment we liave suggested is applicable to all stages. This treatment docs not injure the hoof, and a cessation of pain, and consequent lameness, can be -followed-by the Immediate a pplieati<m-of a properly fitted shoe. On the other hand when the bars are destroyed and the sole cut away, the wall is left without any support. It is too weak to properly sustain weight; if it rests upon the shoe it is pressedeither inwards or outwards, and the recently injured parts are again hurt. Thus, and thus only, it is that the existence of corns can be said to predispose a horse to their A corn is only a temporary accident, like a bruised finger; the one is just as likely to recur as the other. If a horse remains Jame-over a fortnight, there is something more than a corn—either a badly fitted the injury inflicted by the farrier's knife—to account for it. ’ Verily, the ordinary cure for corns is worse than the disease. Horses are, we know, frequently lame or tender for months after having had acorn. Let such animals be properly shod, no cutting out of the heel allowed, and we guarantee a speedy cure. Remember that

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