640 OPERATIONS ON THE FOOT. 



CoNTBACTED HeELS HoOF BoUND. 



Synonym: Zioanghuff, German; JEncasleture, French; Incas- 

 tellatura, Italian; Encatenadura, Spanish. 



This name has been given to a defect of the horse's foot, by 

 which it becomes characterized by its general narrowness, more 

 marked, however, in the posterior than the anterior part. It is 

 especially marked by the diminution of the lateral diameter of the 

 horny box, the deformity consisting in a greater or less contrac- 

 tion of the heels and of the quarters. 



It is principally observed in the fore feet, and it is there only 

 that it presents the characters we are about to describe. This is 

 due to the fact that in the fore legs there is need of a certain ex- 

 pansibility in the posterior part of the foot, which, especially during 

 the action of locomotion, receives the weight of the body; while 

 the contraction of the hind feet gives rise only to an ordinary form 

 of lameness. Sometimes one of the anterior legs only is affected; 

 sometimes both, and in this latter case the alteration is usually 

 greater ia one foot than in the other. 



Some horses are also seen whose feet are contracted only on 

 one, usually the inner side, while the other preserves its normal 

 form and directions. 



Sometimes "hoof -bound" is only a simple deformity, without 

 lameness and without serious result. But in most cases, it consti- 

 tutes a very serious affection, which renders many horses useless 

 and almost without value. It is of more common occurrence than 

 is generally admitted, and gives rise to many other affections of 

 the foot. Cases of lameness treated as located in the shoulder, or 

 as navicular disease, are very often nothing but the result of com- 

 mencing contraction of the heels. True navicular arthritis and 

 hoof-bound are closely related. Whether the disease of the sesa^ 

 ^loid sheath, arising primitively, brings on the subsequent con- 

 traction ; whether the contraction already existing gives rise to the 

 alteration of structure which constitutes the disease so named, 

 cannot always be determined. Hoof -bound was known in old 

 times, and the oldest hippiatrics have proposed means to cure it. 

 Eiders especially have studied it, because the disease is most com- 

 mon in fine saddle horses, whose feet are small. It is frequent in 

 Turkish and Spanish horses, and animals from the Pyrenean dis- 

 tricts, but common horses are not exempt from it. 



