ON L'llK NAVICULAR DISEASE. 5 



In tlie course of this investigation I shall attempt 

 to answer a question which has been considered by 

 horse amateurs a great mystery ; a question which 

 has been proposed by every horseman, but never 

 yet satisfactorily answered by any man : it is this — 

 How do you account for so many horses, with their 

 feet much contracted, being perfectly free from 

 lameness in the midst of hard work ? 



I propose, first, to shew what I conceive to be 

 the primary and chief causes of contraction ; and, 

 secondly, shall attempt to account for these instances 

 of contraction, as being unaccompanied with lame- 

 ness. 



Notwithstanding the conflicting opinions of our 

 eminent veterinary writers as to the causes of con- 

 traction, all seem to admit, that contraction of the 

 hoof is more or less apparent in most horses which 

 have been accustomed to be shod ; that it often hap- 

 pens longbefore they have attained theirhighestvalue 

 for work, and not unfrequently before they are five 

 years old. On taking up the foot of an aged horse, 

 we rather look for it as a necessary attendant ; but 

 yet it cannot be denied, that a large proportion of 

 these horses are perfectly free from lameness in the 

 heart of labour. 



In contrasting the feet of our working horses (as An exuberant 



1 • p 1 1 \ • 1 I 1 /• growth of toe 



enduring a state of bondage) with those leit to na- aiuimarycause 



.11 of contraction. 



ture, I am convinced that the lengthened toe, so 

 often the accumulation of from four to six weeks' 

 growth of hoof, is a very serious evil, and as great a 



