The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

110 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
into a dung-yard upon hot dung will become affected.
Many writers say that seedy toe is caused by the shoeing
smith putting the hot shoe upon the horse's foot to burn
it to a level bed, thereby depriving the horn of its
natural elasticity. I have never seen a case of seedy
toe that I could trace to that cause, and am of opinion
that we must look to other sources for the true cause.
After numerous experiments, I have come to the con-
clusion that seedy toe is, if I may use the term, a
vegetable disease, being caused by moisture fostering
the growth of a minute kind of fungus, which lives upon
the horn, just as dry rot is caused by a fungus living
upon the wood. Having arrived at that conclusion, I
have always resorted to the following treatment, and
never had a case that did not succumb after twice or
thrice dressing. First take a small searching knife and
cut away all the rotten horn as far as you can between
the sole and crust; cut away the crust to prevent it
breaking, then pour into the affected part carbolic acid
one part, sweet oil three parts, dip a piece of tow into
the oil, and fill the hole with it, then put on the shoe,
and in two or three times dressing the foot will have
become sound. I had a patient last summer, an ass,
which had its hoofs entirely eaten away with disease of
the seedy toe type. I dressed its feet firstly with pure
carbolic acid, the next day I dressed them with carbolised
oil, filling the space between the little outside horn it
had left with tow, and turned it out into the field. In
twice dressing I had lulled the fungus, and now its feet
are perfectly sound. Perhaps some of my readers who
have seedy toe among their horses, will place a portion