CAT-IIAIVCMED, HOW CONTRACTED. 



13 



The prccerling figure (No. 5) shows the outhne of tljree feet of different (Ie« 

 grers of elevation : b d describes the line of the coronet, or orifice, into whicL 

 the thickest end of the small pastorn-bone sinks, and rests upon the sprii.gy 

 eubstance attached to the inside of the hoof, and which bone, we naturally 

 expect, should ascend out of, and take the same direction as, the hoof, whence 

 Jt springs. Any departure from this rule of nature is clearly an approach 

 towards tiisease. In tlie paragraph above, I showed what mischief might be 

 derived from an upright small pastern, such as would suit the outline hoof 

 (c) ; of course, this elevation, or a greater, would be a mis-shapen hoof as 

 well as pastern. In like manner, we knew that the pommice-foot is out of 

 point and diseased, and it follows that the best passible elevation of the hoof 

 must necessarily lie in the medium of those extremes, which we know to be 

 diseases in themselves : this it is to determine a contest mechanically, without 

 once adverting to the well-known circumstance of the health and free use of 

 its heels, which attends the horse whose hoof is, at any time of life, near 45 

 degrees of elevation or depression. Did we require more arguments to prove 

 this to be the proper elevation, a conclusive one could be found in the well- 

 known circumstance of those hoofs of horses which are very upright in early 

 life becoming the lowest when the animals get old ; whilst those hoofs which 

 come near the standard of excellence in youth (45 degrees), retain the same 

 form, as nearly as the injuries of shoeing admit of, to an extreme old age. 



10. So far as the foregoing observations on the fore-legs apply, they do be- 

 long, in every particular, and with equal reason, to the hind legs also; with 

 the exception, however, of what is said concerning the elbow of the fore-leg, 

 and its adhesion to the chest, for which we must now substitute the stifle of 

 .he hind-leg [N. 30] ; and add, instead of the kind of defect described as being 

 occasioned by the contraction of the part, it is here owing to the expansion 

 or spreading of the stifle from the sides. This throws the houghs together, 

 and forms " cat-hammed horses," as they are termed ; the mode of going such 

 animals are constrained to adopt, the circle their Fig. 6. 



hind feet describe, at every step, the additional 

 fatigue they undergo, the awkwardness of their 

 tread, and the consequent diseases communicated 

 to the sole, lately described (in sec. 6.) as pertaining 

 to the fore-leg, — most undoubtedly afflict the hind- 

 leg also, with the additional fact, that this one is 

 more liable to "grease." At rest, if an animal so 

 built does not place one foot before the other, his 

 houghs not unfrequently touch each other, — po- 

 ney's and low horses more particularly so ; and it 

 seems worthy of remark, that this species of mal- 

 conformation seldom appears on the fore and hind- 

 legs of the same animal. Indeed, I can not recol- 

 cet having seen one instance, and I am thence led 

 to conclude that this twist of the legs is a contri- 

 vance of Nature to accommodate itself to the dis- 

 proportionate length of legs before or behind. But, 

 when it so happens that the strength of the parts 

 resists this bending of the hough or of the knee, 

 such horses walk higher behind than before, and 

 vice versa, i. e. when one pair of legs seem to have 

 outgrown the other pair; a defect which, though 



