56 EXAMINATION OF HORSES 



The bloodvessels within the unyielding horny box are 

 dilated and crowded with blood. Healthy vessels would 

 have followed the example of their near kinsmen in the 

 skin and have contracted upon their contents, and the 

 excited blood flow would have quieted down. This is a 

 capital test for feet suspected of having suffered from 

 inflammation. It is a test you should never fail to apply 

 under such conditions. 



Feet may be of unequal size, and still both may be 

 quite sound. It not unfrequently happens that the right 

 foot is distinctly the larger. Here we account for this by 

 the right foot being more used, which is quite a natural 

 thing; or we look for signs of previous inflammation in 

 the lesser foot, . and apply our test when there are no 

 pathological changes of structure visible in the horny box. 

 Should there be no physical signs, permanent or pro- 

 duceable, it would be a grave mistake to certify the horse 

 as unsound, but you would be justified in mentioning it 

 in your certificate. You would, were the foot very much 

 less than its fellow, need to ■ be very careful. It often 

 happens that young unshod horses gather foreign bodies, 

 such as thorns, nails, and other sharp penetrating sub- 

 stances, whilst running in an ordinary pasture, or they 

 bruise their soles. We frequently find inflammation of 

 a severe character, and prolonged, under these circum- 

 stances. This being so, we cannot be too careful when 

 we find odd feet. 



Frogs that are atrophied and frogs that are large 

 (fleshy), are neither of them conditions which exist 



