With the foot thus trimmed so as to most suitably adjust the angles of the articulations, it should next be thoroughly pared and rasped in its posterior half, so as to render the horn of the sole and the frog and the horn of the quarters as thin as possible.  The heels, however, should not be excessively lowered, if at all.  We now have the foot in a soft condition, and easily expanded.  It should, if possible, be kept so; and this may be done either by the use of poultices, by tepid baths, or by standing the animal upon a bedding that may easily be kept constantly damp.  Such materials as tan, peat moss, or sawdust, are either of them suitable.

All this, of course, calls for keeping the animal in the stable.  It is far better, however, more especially if a piece of marshy land is at hand, to turn him out in that.  A moderate amount of exercise is beneficial rather than not, and the feet are thus constantly kept damp without trouble to the attendants.

The second indication in the treatment is that of applying a counter-irritant as near to the diseased parts as possible.  Regarding its efficacy we must confess to being somewhat sceptical.  The treatment has been constantly practised and advised, however, and we feel bound to give it mention here.  A smart blister may, therefore, be applied to the whole of the coronet, and need not be prevented from running into the hollow of the heel.

Instead of blistering the coronet (or in conjunction with that treatment), the counter-irritant may be applied by passing a seton through the plantar cushion or fibro-fatty frog.  Setoning the frog appears to have been introduced by Sewell.  In many cases great benefit is claimed to have been derived from it, especially by English veterinarians of Sewell’s time, and by others on the Continent.  Percival, however, was not an advocate for it, and, at the present day, it is a practice which appears to have dropped out of use altogether.

[Illustration:  FIG. 164.—­FROG SETON NEEDLE.]

To perform this operation a seton needle of a curved pattern is needed (see Fig. 164).  This is threaded with a piece of stout tape dressed with a cantharides, hellebore, or other blistering ointment, and then passed in at the hollow of the heel, emerging at the point of the frog.  The course the needle should take will be understood from a reference to Fig. 165.

The seton may be passed with the horse in the standing position.  Previously the point of the frog should be thinned, and the animal should be twitched.  After-treatment consists simply in moving the seton daily, and dressing it occasionally with any stimulating ointment, or with turpentine.

If, in spite of these treatments, the disease persists, then nothing remains but neurectomy.

D. DISLOCATIONS.

The firm and rigid manner in which the bones of the pedal articulation are held together renders dislocation of this joint an exceedingly rare occurrence, and then it is only liable to happen under the operation of great force.  In the literature to our hand we have only been successful in discovering one reported instance, and, strange to say, in this, a well-marked case, the cause was altogether obscure.  We quote the case at the end of this section.