DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 



BY A. A. HOLCOMBE, D. V. S. 



ANATOMICAL REVIEW OF THE FOOT. 



In a descriptiou of the foot of the horse it is customary to include 

 only the hoof and its contents, yet, 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 ex- 

 pressed; in fact, domestication, coupled with the multiplied uses to 

 which the animal is put, aud the constant reproduction of hereditary 

 defects and tendencies, have largely transformed the ancient " compan- 

 ion of the wind" into a very common piece of machinery which 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 ability 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, bet- 

 ter still, hov\^ to prevent 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 5 hence, first of all, the anatomical 

 structures must be understood. 



The bones of the fetlock and foot constitute the skeleton on which the 

 other structures are built, and comprise the lower end of the cannon 

 bone (the metacarpus in the fore leg, the metatarsus in the hind leg), the 

 two sesamoids, the large pastern or suffraginis, the small pastern or 

 coronet, the coffin bone or os pedis, aud the small sesamoid or navicular 

 bone. (Plate xxxii, Fig. 3.) 



The cannon hone extends from the knee or hock to the fetlock, is 

 cylindrical in shape and stands nearly or quite perpendicular. 



The sescunoids occur in pairs, are small, shaped like a three-faced 



pyramid, and are set behind the fetlock joint, at the upper end of the 



suffraginis, with the base of the pyramid down. 



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