112 THE HORSE. 



of the expansion which is desired. The operation should, there- 

 fore, at once be performed ; at the same time, the w hole sole may 

 be reduced in thickness, and the heels lowered in proportion. The 

 foot should then (after the shoe is tacked on) be placed in a cold 

 bran poultice, which will soften the horn; and the system should 

 be reduced by the exhibition of the medicines recommended undei 

 Laminitis, at page 406. Next day, if the pulse continues high, 

 more blood may be taken ; but, in ordinary cases, it is better at 

 once to insert a seton in the frog (see Operations, Chap. XXV.), 

 and trust to this for relieving the chronic inflammation remaining, 

 by its counter-irrit&rion. But when the disease itself is mastered, 

 there is still a good deal to be done to prevent the injurious effect's 

 which are so apt to follow. The horse contracts a habit of step- 

 ping on his toes, to prevent hurting his navicular structures ; and 

 hence the frog is not used, the heels of the crust and the hars are 

 not strained, and there being no stimulus to the soft parts which 

 secrete them, they waste and contract in size. If the human hand 

 is allowed to lie idle, the palm and the insides of the fingers are 

 covered with a delicate cuticle, which affords so poor a protection 

 to the cutis, that, on using it with any kind of hard work, it actu- 

 ally separates, and leaves an exposed surface, which speedily in- 

 flames. But by gradually exposing the same hand to pressure, a 

 thickened and tougher cuticle is secreted; and this will bear any 

 moderate amount of pressure or friction without injury. Never- 

 theless, even the hand so prepared must be continually stimulated 

 by work, or the skin returns to its original delicate state, and is 

 then exposed to the same risk of injury as before. So it is with 

 the horse's foot, even in a si,ate of health ; but this is far more 

 marked after an attack of disease. The tendency then is to pro- 

 duce the naturaj horny growths of a smaller substance than before; 

 and if the secreting surfaces are not stimulated by pressure, they 

 become doubly idle, and the frog, as well as the adjacent parts be- 

 neath the navicular bone, shows a wasted and shrivelled appearance. 

 To avoid the risk of these ill consequences, the horse should be 

 placed, for two or three hours daily, on a bed of wet clay, which 

 will allow the shoe to sink into it, but will yet be tenacious enough 

 to make firm and steady pressure on the frog, while its low tem- 

 perature will keep down inflammation. No plan is of so much ser- 

 vice in producing what is called expansion of the heels and growth 

 of the frog as this ; not, as is commonly supposed, from the clay 

 mechanically pressing the heels o-ut, but from the stimulus of its 

 pressure causing the soft parts to secrete more horn, and of a 

 sounder quality than before. 



Should these remedies fail in restoring the foot affected 

 w th navicular disease to a healthy state, recourse can only be had 

 to the operation of neurotomy, which is perfectly efficacious in re- 



