NAVICULARTHRITIS XAVICULAR DISEASE 



389 



NAVICULARTHRITIS XAVICULAR DISEASE 



This is a disease of the foot, and, excepting perhaps splints, one of the 

 most common causes of lameness from which horses suffer. From a rough 



o 



estimate, it may be said that not 

 less than 60 to 70 per cent of 

 our light horses, and more of the 

 heavy ones than is generally be- 

 lieved, sooner or later become 

 affected by it. Just as a splint 

 is the bane of young horses, so 

 is navicular disease the common 

 affliction of old ones. While the 

 former, however, is amenable to 

 treatment, and seldom becomes 

 permanently hurtful, the latter is 

 practically incurable and progres- 

 sively destructive, so that once 

 established it goes on from bad 

 to worse, and ultimately cripples 

 its victim and renders him physi- 

 cally useless. 



It was not until the early part 

 of the nineteenth century that 

 anything was known of this most 

 destructive ailment. Until then 

 the lameness arising out of it had 

 been for a long time attributed to 

 various imaginary conditions, as 

 well as some real ones, hence it 

 received and became known by a 

 variety of terms, according with 

 the various views entertained as 

 to its seat and origin. From its 

 supposed existence in the muscles 



of the shoulder and chest it was by some designated "chest founder"; while 

 others, regarding it as the result of contraction of the feet, spoke of it as 

 " contraction ", which was alleged by the leading veterinary authorities to 

 arise out of a diseased condition of the sensitive laminae intervening 

 between the pedal-bone and the hoof. About the year 1804, Moorcroft, a 



Fig. 402 Navicular Disease 



A, Healthy bone; B, Primary disease of bone, giving 

 rise to softening and erosion of the cartilage at numerous 

 points ; C, Bone showing loss of cartilage and underlying 

 excavations ; D, Large carious surface resulting from con- 

 fluence of small excavations. 



