FLAT OH CONVEXED SOLES. 581 



removed by absorption, whilst at the same time the energy 

 of locomotive force is proportionately diminished. Having 

 dwelt on the causes, their avoidance will constitute the 

 means of prevention, and an opposite course to such as has 

 been exposed will become the best remedy. A right sys- 

 tem of shoeing will be found the best of conservative 

 means, as well as the most effective of curative agents. 



Thrush. This is a diseased condition of the villous 

 membrane covering the fibrous frog ; the cleft is the part 

 commonly first affected, and, when neglected, the disease 

 spreads over the whole of the organ to its point and back- 

 wards, the horn becoming detached from the bulbs of the 

 heels, and to some extent round the coronet to the quarters. 

 The immediate seat of the disease is the frog ; it being a sub- 

 cuticular affection, and never insinuates beneath the true 

 hoof. 



There is no other disease so commonly prevalent in the 

 foot as thrush, and about which there is so much diversity of 

 opinion amongst veterinarians as to the cause ; and true it is, 

 which ever view we take, there is always an opposite one, to 

 be entertained and defended almost as strongly, in the belief 

 of any one who has made up his mind differently. Light- 

 formed horses, and even the best bred amongst them, are, 

 under similar conditions, the most commonly affected with 

 thrushes, the hind feet being most liable. Contraction 

 of the hoof has been regarded as the main cause of 

 thrushes. It has been thought that the frog becomes com- 

 pressed by the narrowing of the hoof. Without further 

 reference to such views, and our grounds of dissent from 

 them, we have only to observe, that this disease is very 

 prevalent amongst horses which are running loose and 

 unshod, and also amongst those where no shoes have ever 

 been applied. 



