4 DISEASES OF THE HORSE'S FOOT 



Leaving the forge, we may next look to the nature of the 

 animal's work, and the conditions under which he is kept, 

 for active causes in the production of disorders of the foot. 

 From the yielding softness of the pasture he is called to 

 spend the bulk of his time upon the hard macadamized 

 tracks of our country roads, or the still more hard and 

 more dangerous asphalt pavings or granite sets of our 

 towns. The former, with the bruises they will give the 

 sole and frog from loose and scattered stones, and the 

 latter, with the increased concussion they will entail on 

 the limb, are active factors in the troubles with which wg 

 are about to deal. Upon these unyielding surfaces the 

 horse is called to carry slowly or rapidly, as the case may 

 be, not only his own weight, but, in addition, is asked to 

 labour at the hauling of heavy loads. The effects of con- 

 cussion and heavy traction combined are bound primarily 

 to find the feet, and such diseases as sidebones, ring- 

 bones, corns, and sandcracks commence to make their 

 appearance. 



Again, as opposed to the comparative healthiness of the 

 surroundings when at grass, consideration must be given 

 to the chemical changes the foot is frequently subjected to 

 when the animal is housed. 



Only too often the bedding the animal has to stand upon 

 for several hours of the twenty-four can only be fitly 

 described as ' filthy in the extreme.' The ammoniacal 

 exhalations from these collected body-discharges must, 

 and do, have a prejudicial effect upon the nature of the 

 horn, and, though slow in its progress, mischief is bound 

 sooner or later to occur in the shape of a weakened and 

 discharging frog, with its concomitant of contracted heels. 

 Luckily it is in such a case if canker does not follow on. 



Observers, too, have chronicled the occurrence in horse's 

 feet of disease resulting from the use of moss litter. 

 Tenderness in the foot is first noticeable, which tenderness 

 is afterwards followed by a peculiar softening of the horn 

 of the sole and the frog. What should be a dense, fairly 

 resilient substance is transformed into a material affording 



