’I call to mind a valuable hunter in my practice a few seasons since, who, whilst hunting, we suppose, struck himself in the way we suggest.  He not only removed the superior portion of the inner heel, but tore about 3 inches of the hoof from the top nearly to the bottom.  This was clapped back by the owner, tied with a handkerchief, and the horse removed home.  When the handkerchief was removed, I confess I did not think the horse looked at all like hunting again.  The heel was fairly pulled down, the portion of the hoof that was hanging to it I could easily have wrenched off.  The parts were fomented, however, with warm water which was slightly carbolized.  I then removed a great portion of the heel and the lateral cartilage, which was split; placed the portion of hoof again on the laminae, smothered the wound with iodoform pulv., covered it with cotton-wool packing, and all the boracic acid I could get it to hold.  A piece of linen bandage was then tightly wrapped a few times round, and the lot enclosed in a plaster-of-Paris bandage.  I did not undo it for a fortnight, when, to my great pleasure, the heel and hoof presented a highly satisfactory appearance.  I did it up in much the same way for another ten days, then put the sand-crack clamps into the hoof and fixed it to the sound part.  The hoof remained in position while the new horn grew from the top, and the horse hunted again the same season.’[A]

[Footnote A:  Veterinary Record, vol. ix., p. 501 (Bower).]

Sequels.—­Either of the complications we have mentioned—­as, for instance, Arthritis, Sand-crack, or Quittor—­may persist and remain as sequels to the case.  In addition to these, there may be left behind a cavity in the horn of the wall (see Fig. 109), or a loss of the horn-substance of the wall proper, as that depicted in Fig. 112, or described under the heading of False Quarter.

[Illustration:  Fig. 112.—­HOOF WITH A CAVITY IN THE SUBSTANCE OF THE WALL FOLLOWING UPON ‘TREAD’ TO THE CORONET.]

The treatment of Arthritis, Sand-crack, Quittor, False Quarter, and Seedy-toe, will be found in the chapters devoted to their consideration.

2. Chronic.

Definition.—­Coronitis in which, owing to the persistence of the cause, inflammatory phenomena continue, resulting in the growth of large fibrous tumours about the coronet.

Causes.—­In many cases it is possible, of course, that abnormal large growths in this position may have an origin similar to that of neoplasms elsewhere—­that is to say, an origin as yet undiscovered.  There is no doubt, however, that the majority of the huge enlargements about the coronet have their starting-point in one or other of the diseases to which the foot is liable, in which the cause remains, and a low type of inflammation persists.