NAVICULAE DISEASE. 507 



Should the owner of the horse suspect the nature of the 

 disease before passing its incipient stage, and place the animal 

 without further delay under proper treatment, the malady, in 

 all probability, will be arrested, and perhaps it may not again 

 return. It is seldom, however, that a cure is affected so readily ; 

 on the contrary, one attack is but too frequently the forerunner 

 of a second, and a second of a third, until the animal finally 

 becomes incurably lame. 



"When both fore feet are affected the peculiarities of the 

 disease will be more marked ; the action will be short and pad- 

 dling ; the animal will tread upon the toes ; and, if previously 

 a high stepper, the action icill become low and tripping. As the 

 disease progresses, or passes into its more confirmed stages, the 

 form of the feet will change, the heels will contract, and the 

 crust at the quarters will become deeper and stronger than 

 when the feet were healthy. 



Causes. — The causes are twofold, viz. — predisposing and 

 exciting. Of the former kind 1 may class hereditary tendency, 

 and this is greatly favoured by the excessive cutting and rasping 

 which the feet undergo when under the operation of the farrier. 

 The exciting causes are sprains of the joint, concussion, and 

 over-exertion of the fore limbs. 



TREATMEi^rT. — The best remedies and modes of treatment 

 in general are — Cold Bandages to the limbs, Bleeding the feet. 

 Blistering within the hollow of the heels, allowing the animal 

 to stand in wet clay, shoes fixed to the fore feet slightly elevated 

 by means of a bar across the heels, and Neurotomy. 



All these remedies and modes of treatment have been 

 long known and resorted to (many others could be added 

 to the list) for years, but when the malady becomes thoroughly 



