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, vesting 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, until] 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 first 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 
