DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 



By A. A. HOLCOMBE, D. V. S. 



ANATOMICAL REVIEW OF THE FOOT. 



In a description of the foot of the horse it is customaiy to inclnde 

 only the hoof and its contents, j^et, from a zoological standpoint, the 

 foot includes all the leg from the knee and the hock down. 



The foot of the horse is undoubtedly the most important part of the 

 animal, in so far as veterinary surgery is concerned, for the reason 

 that this member is subject to so many injuries and diseases, which, 

 in part or in whole, render the patient unfit for the labor demanded 

 of him. The old aphorism, "no foot no horse," is as true to-day as 

 when first exj)ressed; in fact, domestication, coupled with the multi- 

 plied uses to which the animal is put, and the constant reproduction 

 of hereditary defects and tendencies, have largely transformed the 

 ancient "comj)ani(jn of the wind" into a very common piece of 

 machinery AA^hich is often out of repair, and, at best, is but short-lived 

 in its usefulness. 



Since the value of the horse depends largely, or even entirely, upon 

 his abilit}' to labor, it is essential that his organs of locomotion should 

 be kept sound; and to accomplish this end it is necessary not only to 

 know how to cure all diseases to which these organs are liable, but, 

 better still, how to i^revent them. 



An important prerequisite to the detection and cure of disease is a 

 knowledge of the construction and function of the parts which may be 

 involved in the diseased process; hence, first of all, the anatomical 

 structures must be understood. 



The hones of the fetlock and foot constitute, the skeleton on which 

 the other structures are built, and comprise the lower end of the can- 

 non bone (the metacari^us in the fore leg, the metatarsus in the hind 

 leg), the two sesamoids, the large pastern or suffraginis, the small i^as- 

 tern or coronet, the cofl&n bone or os pedis, and the small sesamoid or 



navicular bone. (Plate XXXII, Fig. 3.) 



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