NAVICULAR DISEASE. 



209 



their feet and legs; their feet being especially liable to navicular 

 disease ; and their legs, to splints. Stewart, in his " Stable 

 Economy," remarks that: "Long journeys, at a fast pace, will 

 make almost any horse groggy. Bad shoeing and want of stable 

 care both help ; but I am nearly sure they alone never produce 

 grogginess. The horse must go far and fast; if his feet be ne- 

 glected, or shoeing bad, a slower pace and a shorter distance 

 will do the mischief; but I believe there is nothing in the world 

 will make a horse groggy except driving him far enough and 

 fast enough, to alter the synovial secretion of the navicular joint. 

 Cart-horses are quite exempt; horses working in the omnibuses 

 about Glasgow, always on the stones, and often at ten miles an 

 hour, but never more than a mile without stopping, are nearly 



Long [last^ni bate 



PasUm Joiftb. 



Eoctmsor tatdan of foot - 

 Short pastern borte . _ 

 Pyramidal process 



Pedal joint 



SmsitiA'e laminct 

 Pedal hone-.. 



Ibini of 

 Pedal banc 



Pcrforans 

 ' tcndoiv 

 PbrTirratus tendon^ 

 - fnsertiort aTfurfcfratus 



. M(wicnlar hoThC/ 

 Plantar cushio 



Fig. 70. — Vertical and longitudinal section of horse's foot. 



exempt. The horses most liable ai'e those which work long and 

 fast stages." " Stonehenge," also, justly observes that "many 

 tolerably confirmed cases of navicular disease may, therefore, be 

 hunted, except when the ground be hard, sujDposing, of course, 

 that they are kej)t off the road ; but no plan of management will 

 enable them to bear the jars incidental to harness work or 

 hacking." I think that men of experience will bear me out in 

 saying, that the cab horses — which furnish the highest percentage 

 of sufferers from this complaint — of places in which the roads are 

 laid down with paving stones, are much more subject to navicular 

 disease, than are similarly employed animals in parts where the 

 " going " is smoother, softer, and, consequently, less productive of 

 concussion. 



2. Sprain of the iderforans tendon at the point at which it 

 passes over the navicular bone. The fact that the perforans tendon 

 of the hind limb enjoys no special immunity from sprain, taken 

 conjointly with the fact that navicular disease is of extreme 



14 



