CHAPTER XVIII. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON SHOEING — FOOT LAMENESS, DIVIDED 

 INTO THREE KINDS — (1.) DISEASES OF THE BONES AND CAR- 

 TILAGES; (2.) DISEASES OF THE HORN-SECRETING STRUCTURES; 



(3.) ACCIDENTAL INJURIES DISEASE OF THE PYRAMID OF OS 



PEDIS — SIDE-BONES — NAVICULAR DISEASE, THEORIES OF — CAUSES, 



PATHOLOGY, AND TREATMENT NEUROTOMY, ITS FAVOURABLE AND 



UNFAVOURABLE EFFECTS GELATINOUS DEGENERATION OF THE 



NAVICULAR BURSA — PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY — COMPARISON TO 

 WHITE SWELLING. 



PRELIMINAEY EEMARKS ON SHOEING. 



There is no subject that calls for more attention tlian tl e 

 consideration of the feet of the horse. At the present 

 time, so great is the ignorance prevailing amongst owners, 

 shoers, and managers of horses, that the majority of lame- 

 nesses are found to arise from mismanagement of these 

 important parts of the animal frame. In the city of Edin- 

 bm^gh above 60 per cent, of the horses engaged for aU pur- 

 poses are lame, and above 80 per cent, of such are lame in one 

 or both fore feet. In many English towns, especially in London, 

 the lame horses to be seen in the streets are very few compared 

 with those of Edinburgh ; but even in the most favoured parts 

 of the kingdom the number is something enormous compared 

 with other countries ; and well might the late Professor Sewell 

 say that he had seen more lame horses between Dover and 

 London than during a sojourn of three months in Trance and 

 other continental countries. 



The writers upon the management of the horse's feet and upon 

 shoeing are very numerous, embracing all classes of men, from 

 peers of the realm down to the groom and shoeing-smith ; buc 



