CHAPTEE IV 



METHOD OF EXAMINING THE FOOT 



As a general rule, it may be taken that most diseases of 

 the foot are comparatively easy of diagnosis. When, how- 

 ever, the condition is one which commences simply with an 

 initial lameness, the greatest care will have to be exercised 

 by the practitioner. 



What remarks follow here should rightly be confined to 

 a treatise on lameness. This much, however, we may 

 state : As compared with lameness arising from abnormal 

 conditions in other parts of the limb, that emanating from 

 abnormalities of the foot is easy of detection. With a case 

 of lameness before him, concerning which he is in doubt, 

 the practitioner remembers that a very large percentage 

 may safely be referred to the foot, and, if wise, subjects the 

 foot to a rigorous examination. 



Much may be gathered by first putting the animal 

 through his paces. When at a trot, notice the peculiarity 

 of the ' drop,' whether any alteration in going on hard or 

 soft ground, and watch for any special characteristic in 

 gait. At the same time inquiry should be made as to the 

 history of the case ; its duration ; whether pain, as evi- 

 denced by lameness, is constant or periodic ; the effect of 

 exercise on the lameness ; and the length of time elapsed 

 since the last shoeing. 



This failing to reveal adequate cause for the lameness in 

 any higher part of the limb, one is led, by a process of 

 negative deduction, to suspect the foot. 



