DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 437 



affected foot a time before any lameness is seen. While at work he 

 apparently travels as well as ever, but when placed in the stable one 

 foot is set out in front of the other, resting on the toe, with fetlock 

 and knee flexed. After a time, if the case, is closely watched,- the 

 animal takes a few lame steps while at work, but the lameness dis- 

 appears as suddenly as it came, and the driver doubts whether the 

 animal was really lame at all. Later the patient has a lame spell 

 which may last during a greater part of the day, but the next morn- 

 ing it is gone ; he leaves the stable all right, but goes lame again 

 during the day. In times he has a severe attack of lameness, which 

 may last for a week or more, when a remission takes place and it 

 may be weeks or months before another attack supervenes. Finally, 

 he becomes constantly lame, and the more he is used the greater 

 the lameness. 



In the lameness from navicular disease the affected leg always 

 takes a short step, and the toe of the foot first strikes the ground; 

 so the shoe is most worn at this point. If the patient is made to 

 move backward, the foot is set down with exceeding great care, and 

 the weight rests upon the affected leg but a moment. When exer- 

 cised he often stumbles, and if the road is rough he may fall on his 

 knees. If he is lame in both feet the gait is stilty, the shoulders 

 seem stiff, and, if made to work, he sweats profusely from intense 

 pain. Early in the development of the disease a careful examina- 

 tion will reveal some increased heat in the heels and frog, particu- 

 larly after work; as the disease progresses this becomes more 

 marked, imtil the whole foot is hot to the touch. At the same time 

 there is an increased sensibility of the foot, for the patient flinches 

 from the percussion of a hammer lightly applied to the frog and 

 heels or from the pressure of the smith's pincers. The frog is gen- 

 erally shrunken, often of a pale-red color, and at times is affected 

 with thrush. If the heels are pared away so that all the weight is 

 received on the frog, or if the same result is attained by the applica- 

 tion of a bar shoe, the animal is excessively lame. The muscles of 

 the leg and shoulder shrink away and often tremble as the animal 

 stands at rest. After months of lameness the foot is found to be 

 shrunken in its diameter and apparently lengthened; the horn is 

 dry and brittle and has lost its natural gloss, while circular ridges, 

 developed most toward the heels, cover the upper part of the hoof. 

 When both feet are affected the animal points flrst one foot then 

 the other, and stands with the hind feet well forward beneath the 

 body, so as to relieve the fore feet as much as possible from bearing 

 weight. In old cases the wasting of the muscles and the knuckling at 

 the fetlock become so great that the leg can not be straightened and 

 locomotion can scarcely be performed. The disease generally makes 



