KNEE, FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 19I 



bound should be divided into two classes — total contraction, in which 

 the whole foot is shrunken in size, and contraction of the heels, when 

 the trouble extends onlj^ from the quarters backward. 



Causes. Animals raised in wet or marshy districts, when taken to 

 towns and kept on dry floors, are liable to have contracted heels, not 

 alone because the horn becomes dry but because fever of the feet and 

 wasting away of the soft tissues result from the change. Another com- 

 mon cause of contracted heels is to be found in faulty shoeing, such as 

 rasping the wall, cutting away the frog, heels, and bars; high calks and 

 the use of nails too near the heels. Contracted heels may happen also 

 as one of the results of other diseases of the foot; for instance, it often 

 accompanies thrush, side-bones, ring-bones, canker, navicular dis- 

 ease, corns, sprains of the flexor tendons, of the sesamoid and 

 suspensory ligaments, and from excessive knuckling of the fetlock 

 joints. 



Symptoms. In contraction of the heels the foot has lost its circular 

 shape, and the walls from the quarters backward approach to a straight 

 line. The ground surface of the foot is now smaller than the coronary 

 circumference; the frog is pinched between the inclosing heels, is much 

 shrunken, and at times affected with thrush. The sole is more con- 

 cave than natural, the heels are higher, and the bars are long and nearly 

 perpendicular. The whole hoof is dry, and so hard that it can scarcely 

 be cut; the parts toward the heels are scaly and often rigid like the 

 horns of a ram, while fissures, more or less deep, may be seen at the 

 quarters and heels following the direction of the horn fibers. When the 

 disease is well advanced lameness is present; in the earlier stages there 

 is only an uneasiness evinced by frequent shifting of the affected foot or 

 feet. Stumbling is common, especially on hard or rough roads. In 

 most cases the animal comes out of the stable stiff and inclined to walk 

 on the toe, but after exercise he may go free again. He wears his shoes 

 off at the toe in a short time, no matter whether he works or remains in 

 the stable. If the shoe is removed and the foot pared, in old cases a 

 dry, mealy horn where the sole and horn unite, extending upward in a 

 narrow line toward the quarters. 



Treatment. First of all, the preventive measures must be consid- 

 ered. The feet must be kept moist and the horn be prevented from 

 drying out by the use of moist sawdust or other damp bedding; by occa- 

 sional poultices of boiled turnips, linseed meal, etc., and the use of 

 greasy hoof ointments to both the sole and walls of the feet. The wall 



