The general plan which meets with the approval of most practitioners consists in careful leveling of the foot and removing enough of the wall and sole at the quarters to make possible frog pressure by means of a bar shoe.  With frog pressure, expansion of the heel follows in time, and permanent relief is obtainable in this manner.  Thinning the wall of the quarter is advocated by many practitioners and is undoubtedly beneficial in chronic cases where marked contraction has taken place.  The wall must be thinned with a rasp until it is readily flexible by compressing with the thumbs.

There are instances, however, where corns and contraction of the heel have existed so long that they do not yield to treatment.  Such cases are found in old light-harness or saddle-horses that have been more or less lame for years and where there exists marked contraction of the heels, rough hoof walls, and hard and atrophied frogs.

Suppurating corns require surgical attention in the way of removal of the purulent necrotic mass and making provision for drainage.  Dry dressings, such as equal parts of zinc sulphate and boric acid, may be employed to pack the cavity.  After the infectious condition has been controlled, and the wound is dry, the same plan of treatment is indicated that is employed in the non-suppurating corn.  Ample time is allowed, however, for the surgically invaded tissues to granulate and, if the subject is to be put in service, a leather pad, under which there has been packed oakum and tar, affords good protection.

Quittor.

This name is employed to designate an infectious inflammation of the lateral cartilage and adjoining structures.  The disease is characterized by a slowly progressive necrosis and by a destruction of more or less of the cartilage and by the presence of fistulous tracts.

Etiology and Occurrence.—­The disease is due to the introduction of pus producing organisms into the subcoronary region of the foot under conditions which favor the retention of such contagium and extension of infection into contiguous tissues.

Morbific material is introduced into the region of the lateral cartilage by means of calk wounds and other penetrant injuries of the foot.  A sub-coronary abscess which, because of lack of proper care or because of virulency of the contagium or low vitality of the subject, is quite apt to result in cartilaginous affection and its perforation by necrosis follows.

Symptomatology.—­Quittor is readily diagnosed on sight in many instances.  Where there is dependable history or other evidence of the chronicity of an infectious inflammation of the kind, quittor is easily identified.  If no positive evidence of the disease exists, by means of careful exploration of sinuses with the probe, one may distinguish between true cartilaginous quittor and superficial abscess formation that is often accompanied by hyperplasia.

Lameness depends upon the extent of the involvement as it affects the structures contiguous to the cartilage.  A variable degree of lameness is manifested in different cases.