DISEASES AFFECTING FEET 



" unsoundness." In order to relieve the pressure of the shoe 

 upon the wall at the weakened part, the horse should be shod 

 with a shoe having a slight depression corresponding to the 

 same, or the horn " notched." 



FLAT SOLES, 



The sole of the foot is naturally concave, but its concavity 

 sometimes becomes more or less obliterated. This is of common 

 occurrence after an attack, or attacks, of inflammation (fever) 

 of the feet, in which disease there is a special liability for the 

 coffin bone to become displaced, pushing, or bulging out the 

 horny sole. It is an indication of unsoundness, rendering 

 the foot particularly liable to bruises. Shoeing, with a leather 

 sole. will, to some extent, obviate this. 



FOUNDER (FEVER IN THE FEET) OR LAMINITIS. 



Introduction. — The sensitive structures of the foot are 

 enclosed within the horny hoof. The coffin bone (os pedis) has 

 its face and sides covered over by numerous leaf-like structures, 

 known as the " sensitive laminae " (leaves), which are dove- 

 tailed into corresponding laminae on the inner surface of the 

 hoof, and termed, in contradistinction to the others, " insensi- 

 tive laminae." When the feet become inflamed, it is these 

 ''sensitive laminae," that are the chief structures participating 

 in the inflammation. 



Fever in the feet begins as a congestion of these leaves, and, 

 as we all know, that when a part begins to swell, the pain 

 decreases ; but swelhng to any extent of these sensitive struc- 

 tures is prevented by the non-yielding horny box (hoof), hence 

 the reason why a horse suffers such excruciating agony in this 



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