248 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



sometimes been corroded, and in a very disor- 

 ganized state, so that it frequently tends to a 

 bony deposit, and eventually anchylosis, or stiff 

 joint. I do not know of any treatment to be* 

 likely to relieve the parts, but firing, and re- 

 peated blistering. In this disease the Horse 

 will go upon his toe, the joint immediately 

 within the hoof being stiff. Many working 

 Horses in London are affected with this dis- 

 ease, though it is highly disgraceful to see ; 

 the poor animals sometimes being so exces- 

 sively lame, that they are miserable objects 

 to behold. 



PUMICED FOOT. 



Pumiced foot, very frequently being the 

 eftect of inflam.mation and contraction, I have 

 placed that disease to foHo'w the two latter. 



To define pumice foot, (^|^e may say, a 

 morbid secretion of the sensible laminae, which 

 forces the insensible hoof from the sensible 

 laminse covering the coffin-bone, so that a 

 partial separation takes place between the 

 two, and this but seldom, hastily ; but the in- 

 flammatory attack goes on slowly and gradu- 

 ally. This you may notice, by the front of the 

 lioof giving way, or falling in, receding from 

 its usual obliquity ; the sole also, at the same 

 time, becoming nearly flat. This is the time 

 the Horse begins to falter, and shew lame- 

 ness, especially if going over newly repaired 

 roads ; when if he should tread on a sharp 

 .><tone, it will be with difficulty he may save 

 himself from comma: down. From tliis curi- 

 ous disease, the Horse appears to secrete little 

 or no horn, for the shoe to lay upon, which 

 occasions these kind of feet exceedingly difl[i- 

 cult to shoe ; and still what appears strange, 

 the sole becomes thinner and thinner ; and at 

 length bulges out, forming a complete convex 



foot. This convexity becomes greater, or less, 

 as the disease is more severe. Large cart- 

 horses are very subject to this disease, espe- 

 cially those used in large towns, and who are 

 continually battering their feet on the stones ; 

 the irritating of which produces a slow in- 

 flammation, ending in pumice feet. 



The pressure that the coffin-bone, thus dis- 

 placed, makes on the fleshy sole, occasions 

 sometimes an absorption of its own edges, but 

 always an interruption to the healthy secre- 

 tion of horn, which accounts for the diminished 

 thickness of the sole, before noticed. The 

 sole, therefore, being unable to bear the 

 weight of the animal, as it would in a healthy 

 state, loses its concavity, and yields to the al- 

 tered form of the parts above it. The whole 

 of the parts within become deranged i« struc- 

 ture, as well as situation, the receding of the 

 coffin-bone, which approaches the heels, and 

 rests there, in an altered line of declivity. 



Palliatives are the only means to manage 

 these kind of feet with any degree of success ; 

 for a cure is impossible, as the parts can never 

 be reinstated into their original form. Heie, 

 shoeing is your principal remedy, and I have 

 known many pumice-feeted Horses work well 

 for a considerable time, with proper shoeing. 

 With regard to the shoeing, the thinness of the 

 wall, or crust, must be paid particular atten- 

 tion to ; also the sole being so exceedingly 

 thin ; in putting on, the greatest care is neces- 

 sary, that no part of the shoe bears thereon. 

 Most smiths are acquainted what kind of shoe 

 is best for feet of this kind, it being rather a 

 peculiar one. The framing of this shoe, is 

 with an exceeding wide web, and made thick 

 enough to be, what is called chambered out 

 very much, almost- "covering the sole alto- 

 gether. This ft^^ne, in order to prevent 



