NAVICULAR-JOINT LAMENESS. 70S 



downwards, if the operator be not left-handed. It is seldom neces- 

 sary to cast the animal. The horny frog must be well pared, and 

 if the needle — a sharj)- pointed, sharp, curved one — be passed 

 quickly, the operation is generally completed before the animal 

 knows much about it. It is necessary that care should be taken 

 not to introduce llio needle too deej^ly, as the tendon may be 

 wounded; tlie ])oint of the needle sliould be introduced into the 

 frog about an inch from the toe and brought out midway between 

 the bulbs of tlie frog and the anterior boundary of the hollow heel. 

 The ends of the tape must be tied together, so as to form a loop, 

 which is to be sufficiently long to admit of a little movement in 

 dressing, but not so long as to extend to the boundary of the wall, 

 or the horse, by treading upon it, will soon destroy it. Before the 

 seton is introduced, it is usual to put on the shoe for the purpose of 

 removing weight fi"om the ii-ritated frog. About three weeks or a 

 month is the usual time for keeping the seton in the frog, dressing 

 it daily and keeping the foot clean. After its removal, the frog 

 must be examined, for usually it is ' under-run ' between the two 

 orifices by purulent matter; if such be the case, the detached horn 

 must be removed and the exposed parts dressed with a little tar. 

 If structural changes have not taken place, this plan of treatment 

 will usually be found effective; but if the lameness continue after a 

 month has elapsed after the removal of the seton, all treatment will 

 be useless, and the animal should be put to slow work, or the pain 

 removed by neui'otomy." 



This, of course, should be done by a competent veterinary 

 surgeon. 



I have been led to give particular attention to the study of 

 this lameness, from the fact that many years ago one of my best 

 horses, old Turco, became lame from this cause. First, there 

 was noticed a slight flinching while moving on a trot. The feet 

 being at the time very dry and hard, it caused a compression of 

 the wall upon the soft parts. In the course of a couple of months 

 I called in a veterinary surgeon, who was considered a good prac- 

 titioner as well as good authority. He promised to cure the case 

 in a month. His treatment consisted of simply applying a strong 

 sweating blister to the coronet, keeping up a sharp counter-irrita- 

 tion foi- eight or ten days, but with no good results. I am satis- 

 fied that if at this stage of the case the foot had been thoroughly 

 soaked by either hot or cold water, the quarters opened a little 

 with the shoe well rounded at the toe, and the heels somewhat 

 elevated, there would have been no difficulty in making a cure. 

 But the surgeon did nothing more than apply a counter-irritant 

 for a little more than a week. This seemed to be, and is 3'^et, about 



