392 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



observed that the heels become gradually narrow, the sole concave or 

 arched, the quarters deep, the frog small and wasted, and the feet generally 

 upright and blocky in appearance. Horses suffering from navicular disease 

 are very liable to thrush, and the feet are warmer than normal. It cannot 

 be said, however, that cold feet are inconsistent with the existence of the 

 disease. It should be noticed that the contraction of the feet is seldom 

 uniform, so that one will mostly be observed to be smaller than the other. 



Some assistance in diagnosis may be obtained by careful observation of 

 the posture of the patient when in the stable. In this connection it is 

 observed that the feet are placed alternately in positions of rest, either by 

 raising the heel from the ground, flexing the pastern, or advancing the foot 

 straight out in front of the body "pointing". 



Treatment. There is little hope of effecting a cure in this disease 

 when once it is established, but a good deal may be done by judicious 

 management to restrain its progress and palliate its effects. In the very 

 earliest stages of the malady it is quite conceivable that a long rest on a 

 soft damp surface and a repetition of blisters to the coronet might effect a 

 cure; but it is comparatively seldom that any serious attention is given to 

 the case at this early period of its existence, and it is not until some con- 

 siderable advance has been made that a reliable diagnosis can be effected. 

 All cases are benefited by a run at grass, provided the ground is fairly 

 wet and soft; but in dry seasons, when these conditions are not only 

 reversed, but flies are also troublesome, a considerable aggravation of the 

 disease is likely to result. When rest and blistering are resorted to, the 

 condition of the horse should be kept up; and when he returns to the 

 stable the feet should be irrigated with cold water morning and evening, 

 and covered with swabs in the intervals. 



Setons inserted through the frogs were once very much in vogue, but 

 the benefit resulting from them was not found to go beyond that derived 

 from blistering the coronets. Where these measures fail, it only remains 

 to relieve the animal from pain by dividing the plantar nerves and remov- 

 ing a portion to prevent their reunion. 



It must be understood that the operation referred to does not check the 

 progress of the disease. On the contrary, it rather tends to aggravate it; 

 for all feeling having been removed from the foot, the animal ceases to favour 

 it, and by indiscriminate use adds to existing trouble. Where horses are 

 worked to the end after the operation of neurotomy, either the diseased 

 bone fractures or the flexor tendon beneath it ruptures. 



The first is evidenced by a return of the pain and lameness, attended 

 with swelling around the coronet and a separation of the hoof from the 

 sensitive structures of the foot. The second is manifested by a sudden 



