LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
488 
times it is, sometimes it is not. Where then, let us inquire, is 
the connexion between navicularthritis and contraction 1 This 
part of our subject has already undergone discussion : I need 
therefore only repeat here, that although a horse exhibiting 
navicularthritis may not have a contracted foot at the time, but 
on the contrary, as we so often have occasion to remark, a good 
open foot, still, from the repose when in the stable, and the fa- 
vouring at the time of going such foot will be sure to experience, 
will it in time become a contracted foot. And this it is that, in 
the majority of cases, constitutes the chronic, hoof-bound, too 
often incurable, lame horse. Indeed, it matters little what the 
form of the foot is at the time of the attack of navicularthritis. 
Long duration or repetition of lameness will be sure to induce 
contraction sooner or later ; and, in the end, contraction will form 
a feature in the case strong enough to mislead those who may not 
be acquainted with its history, or know enough of hippopatho- 
logy to reason properly on it. The seat of injury giving rise to 
the inflammation present in contraction causing lameness, will 
very well account for the horse continually going upon his toe, 
without supposing it to arise, as Coleman curiously enough 
did, from disease of the lamina. But, will it account for the 
heat we so invariably feel, not in front alone, but all round the 
wall of the hoof, and for the heat and tumidity as well of the 
coronet I I think it will, very satisfactorily, when we come to 
consider that, contraction being not a primary or immediate, but 
a secondary and remote consequence of navicularthritis, by the 
time it makes its appearance inflammation must either have 
existed for some time, or be in some relapsed, perhaps aggra- 
vated form, and that therefore it has not confined itself to the 
posterior but has extended to the anterior parts of the foot ; in 
fact, has spread generally over the whole internal foot. And 
when we come further to remember that the inflammation is 
sometimes sufficient in navicularthritis to cause the pastern 
arteries to “ throb,” we need feel no surprise that the pastern, 
or coronet rather, should take to tumefy. 
Prevention of Contraction. If the principles I have 
laid down be consistent with the results of accurate observation, 
shoeing must be regarded as the main cause, indirect though it 
be, of contraction; and to the modification or correction of it must 
we look for the prophylactic. Shoeing, as it respects horses, 
has been said to be “ a necessary evil.” Without shoes, upon 
our artificial roads, we cannot make use of horses; and no shoes 
have been found to answer save such as are hard and inflexible 
or metallic, and as are fixed to the hoofs with nails. Here, there- 
fore, we find ourselves in an awkward dilemma. We cannot do 
without horseshoes ; and from the moment we nail them to the 
