SYMPTOMS. AND CURS OF 
84 
further, I have frequently met with chronic cases of navicular dis¬ 
ease where the lameness has been perpetual though slight, in which 
no increased heat was perceptible in the coronet, or by feeling 
the surface of any part of the hoof. With the symptoms so un- 
expressive, I usually pare the soles of both feet extremely thin, 
when the extra proportion of heat in the lame one will be gene¬ 
rally apparent by comparison with the other; but the throbbing 
of the pastern arteries is a more important criterion. 
The other indication, viz. swelling, is only an occasional 
symptom of the,disease, by a slight fulness round the coronet 
immediately above the hoof, which, when present, requires the 
discriminating eye of experience to discern it, and is generally 
most evident on the inside, towards the indented quarter of the 
hoof. ; ' 
Pointing of the feet , or shifting one foot before the other in 
the stable, is doubtless expressive of pain, and is of itself a strik¬ 
ing symptom of navicular disease ; yet it cannot be denied, that 
there are many horses which have pointed their feet for years, 
and remained free from lameness even in quick work. In such 
cases, I am of opinion there exists a dull chronic inflammation in 
the tendon exterior to the joint, the articular surfaces of the navi¬ 
cular joint remaining quite perfect in structure. 
Although all groggy horses do not point, I mean to contend, 
that a much greater proportion of those labouring under navicular 
lameness do evince this symptom than is generally known. 
I usually ask the question, in these cases of lameness, whether 
the horse points his foot; and am frequently answered by the 
master and servant, both at the same instant, in the negative; 
and very fairly, too, they not deeming the horse a pointer unless 
he projects his foot under the manger. However, my rule is, 
never to place any reliance on this statement; and, therefore, on a 
quiet examination in the stable, unobserved by the animal himself, 
I generally catch him in the fact; probably not extending the 
lame foot out a yard before him, but projecting only about a 
hand’s breadth before the other foot, the muscles of the sound 
limb all tense, and principally supporting the superincumbent 
weight, whilst all the joints of the lame limb would faintly ex¬ 
hibit a relaxed position, the animal evidently reclining his weight 
on the extensor muscles and tendons, from the knee to the front of 
' the large pastern joint, not conveying any to the sessamoids, and, 
finally, receiving it entirely on the front of the foot. Many horses 
acquire this mode of shifting their weight in the stable without 
pointing the foot, or betraying the least visible suspicious cir¬ 
cumstance, except to a judge expressly on the look-out. 
As a proof, I have repeatedly seen the lame foot apparently 
