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MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
care, lays the foundation of many diseases, and those too of 
a very painful description. 
To alleviate to a certain extent the severity of those 
painful complaints, veterinary surgeons have adopted the 
practice of cutting the nerve which goes to the foot. This 
nerve has its origin in the union of several of the spinal 
nerves, and consequently is a nerve which gives both motion 
and feeling to the foot. The fibres, however, which are 
connected with motion, are carried only to those parts which 
are concerned in producing motion, and these are muscles. 
The influence of the nerves acting upon the muscles cause 
them to contract, and consequently the limbs are moved. 
The bones, blood-vessels, and other parts are merely passive 
agents. The muscles of the leg do not extend below the 
knee, and the fibres of the nerves concerned in motion are 
distributed above tuat joint, so that no part concerned in 
the production of motion extends below the knee; and 
when the nerve is divided either above the fetlock or on the 
pastern, not a fibre is touched concerned with motion, but 
those of feeling alone, and those are continued to the point 
of the toe. It will be seen therefore that this operation 
does not at all interfere with motion ; but the sensibility or 
feeling of the foot is taken away, and the poor animal 
relieved from the torture which diseases of the foot generally 
cause. By this means the irritation of the foot is relieved, 
and this in most cases produces an abatement of the inflam¬ 
mation, and the horse will be able to perform work, and 
have the free use of his foot. 
When horses have inflammatory diseases of the foot, 
they generally keep beating it on the ground, which not 
only keeps up the inflammation, but even increases it, 
while they frequently destroy the hoof by this constant 
battering. 
