56 ANATOMY. 



Foot lameness. — The fore feet are more subject to lame- 

 ness than any other part : and the most common cause of 

 such lameness is a morbid irritability of the elastic laminae, 

 which cover the front and sides of the coffin bone and bars. 

 The causes of this morbid state are numerous — applying a 

 hot shoe to the foot, mechanical expansion or contraction 

 with shoes fitted for that purpose. It may be brought on by 

 hard riding, standing upon hot litter, and high feeding. The 

 practice of breaking colts, and putting them to work too early, 

 lays the foundation of foot lameness. Horses afflicted with 

 this disease have a great degree of heat in the feet, with an 

 unusual dryness and contraction of the horn at the heels ; 

 the frog appears to be compressed, and narrower than in the 

 healthy foot, and sometimes ragged and discharging matter 

 from its cleft or division. This is not always the case ; 

 sometimes the frog appears quite sound, and of the natural 

 shape, and the form of the foot does not appear to have un- 

 dergone any alteration. The lameness is often inconsidera- 

 ble, and continues so for months. If the horse is worked on 

 a soft road, very little, if any, lameness is perceptible ; but 

 the moment the animal steps on hard ground, it will be 

 noticed. At length the horse is seen constantly resting his 

 foot, or putting it forward, as he stands in the stable, and, 

 when taken out to work, is found very lame. The only 

 chance to effect a radical cure in this disease, is to turn the 

 horse to grass in soft ground, without shoes ; and, unless this 

 is done early, it seldom effects any permanent good. 



Corns. — A disease of the horse's foot, often causing lame- 

 ness. Corns generally happen in the inner heel, or in that 

 part of the sole which lies within the angle formed by the 

 inflection of the crust or wall of the hoof, or, in other words, 

 between the bar and crust. In their early stage they gen- 

 erally cause some degree of lameness. If not attended to at 

 this period, the horse soon becomes lame ; and when the shoe 

 is removed for examination, the horny matter in the part 

 described will be found, upon scraping off the exterior sur- 

 face, of a dark red color. If the shoe is not removed at this 



