314 NOTE BY MR. SPOONER. 



cases, on asking the question, " Does the horse point ?" the groom will reply 

 " Oh yes, he has done so for a long time." The ascertainment of the length 

 of this time will inform us how long the disease has been coming oil In 

 other cases, on asking the same question, we are told he never points. The 

 former reply we may generally depend on, but the latter we must never 

 trust to ; for, unless the lame foot is thrust out nearly a yard in front of the 

 other, the groom does not consider that the horse points. In a case of this 

 sort (supposing aU the time that it is one of navicular disease,) we shall 

 probably find, on noticing the horse, that the affected foot is advanced in some 

 degree beyond the other, that there is very little weight resting on it, and 

 none whatever on the heels. In navicular disease the horse always, or at 

 least in ninety-nine cases in a hundred, points, either little or much, although 

 it may be unnoticed by the attendants ; it is, indeed, one of the most striking 

 characteristics of the disease. We must not, however, always conclude that 

 because a horse points he must necessarily have the disease, although in the 

 majority of instances we may expect its approach, either early or late ; but 

 some horses have been known to point for years without going lame: either 

 the horse has pointed from habit, or the alteration of structure in the foot 

 may be sufficient to occasion pointing, and yet by careful treatment prevent- 

 ed from being so bad as to produce lameness. Some persons, having wit- 

 nessed a case in which a horse may have pointed for a lengthened period 

 without being lame, immediately conclude that it is of no consequence, thus 

 confidently drawing an inference from the narrow limits of their own expe- 

 rience, and allowing it to influence their conduct. We may, however, safely 

 aver that pointing, if a habit, is, at best, a wretched bad one, having so much 

 the semblance of disease ; and from its so frequently being the precursor 

 of lameness, it materially lessens the value of an animal 



If a horse is lame and points, must we necessarily conclude that he has 

 navicular disease i No ; he may point from corns or from other injury at 

 the posterior part of the foot, but then this pointing is different from that of 

 navicular disease. In the latter the foot is generally set out straight ; in the 

 former it is not extended so far, but the heels are more elevated. In the 

 former, the animal having put his foot in the easiest position, turns his atten- 

 tion to other objects, whilst in the latter the solicitude of the horse is evidently 

 directed more continually to the part, and if a horse points from corns, the 

 lameness and pain are unusually severe. 



Contraction. — This is a symptom that, either generally or partially, we 

 usually find attending navicular disease. It is, however, by no means uni- 

 versally the case ; indeed we occasionally find navicular lameness without 

 any contraction, and, on the other hand, quite as frequently extensive con- 

 traction without any lameness whatever. Contraction is more frequently the 

 consequence than the cause of lameness, arising, as it does most commonly, 

 from resting or favoring the foot which the lameness induces. There are dif- 

 ferent sorts as well as different degrees of contraction. Putting aside the 

 natural oblong narrow mule's-shape foot, which often exists through life un 

 attended with lameness, we may have the heels drawn in, the crust and bars 

 approaching with scarcely any space in the commissures, and the frog much 

 diminished, hard, dry, and preternaturally elevated. In other cases the con- 

 traction may be only on one side, or the foot may appear altogether free 

 from contraction, which may be only found to exist by comparing it with the 

 other foot. There are other cases in which there may be no apparent con 

 traction, and yet the parts are by no means in a natural or proper position 

 the horny sole is preternaturally arched and thick, and the consequence is 

 the navicular joint is driven up higher in the horny box, and instead of hav 

 ing a comparatively flat and elastic surface to repose on, it has a fcard ui 

 yielding ridge formed by the commissures. 



