THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 24i) 



the heels are sometimes hot and feverish, and, on making pres- 

 sure with the finger (into the space formed by the quarters and 

 pastern bones) in a dpwnward direction, the horse shows signs of 

 pain, There are times, however, when symptoms of pain cannot 

 be elicited by pressure ; and that is when the disease commences 

 in the navicular bone, and before the sensitive tissues are in- 

 volyed. But even should the disease commence in the former, 

 the horse will at times point the foot forward, and occasionally 

 be caught limping, not lame enough though to attract the atten- 

 tion of any but a close observer. As the disease progresses, the 

 heels contract, and curve towards each other ; the hoof appears 

 dry and brittle ; the sensitive and nutritive tissues are now in- 

 volved ; the supply of synovial fluid is partly or wholly suspend- 

 ed ; friction commences ; adhesion forms, gluing parts together, 

 preventing the free articulation of the joint; the horse goes per- 

 ceptibly, yet gradually, lamer, up to the period of ulceration. 

 The final result is often fracture of the navicular bones. The 

 diagnostic symptom — pointing of the foot — is a persistent fea- 

 ture of navicular disease ; for not only does the animal show it at 

 rest, but also, while travelling, the toe touches the ground before 

 the heel. On examining a horse's foot, therefore, supposed to 

 be the subject of this disease, we shall find the under surface of 

 the shoe worn more at the toe than at the heels. These symp- 

 toms, coupled with observation that hard work aggravates the 

 lameness, and that there is no abnormal action or enlargement 

 elsewhere, will go to make out a case of navicular disease. 



When both fore feet become affected, the horse is said to be 

 groggy. Surgeon White defines grogginess to be " a tenderness 

 and stiffness about the feet, from hard trotting upon the road, 

 which causes him to go in an uneasy, hobbling manner, particu- 

 larly when made to trot down a hill without any support from 

 the bridle." So much for the symptoms ; and, in order to give 

 the reader more light on the nature of grogginess, we refer to 

 Percivall, who informs us that " the epithet groggy was suggested 

 by the unsteady, rolling, unsafe action of the lame horse being com- 

 pared to that of a drunken man." The pathological researches 

 of later times have demonstrated that groggy lameness ha? ita 

 origin in navicularthritis. 

 2i * 



