ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 



129 



CHAPTER XI. 



DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 



As we have seen, there is seldom reason to suspect disease 

 in the horse in the shoulder or thigh, and only occasionally in 

 the elbow, forearm, stifle, or gaskin. The knee, the hock, and 



the cannons are 

 quite often, and the 

 pasterns and feet 

 are especially liable 

 to be the seats of 

 disease. In the 

 feet, no part is 

 exempt. 



Beginning at the 

 plantar surface, we 

 find a very common 

 disease in inflam- 

 mation of the frog, 

 called, commonly, 

 thrush. 



Thrush is a dis- 

 ease of filth and 

 neglect. The salts 

 of urine have an es- 

 pecially bad influ- 

 ence on horses' 

 feet, and those 

 animals that are allowed to stand in mud-puddles made of the 

 clay of their stalls mixed with urine are very apt to have this 



disease. It also comes from subjecting the animals to extremes 

 —10— 



Figure 86. — Thrush and Contracted Heei 



