63 
LAMENESS IN THE FEET OF HORSES. 
d general care of the animal, by economically making the most 
a space in which Nature’s limits aie already infringed upon, 
d thereby the impending danger averted. This is mainly ac- 
mplished by continuing the foot almost m constant motion as 
a loose stable, the effect of which is merely mechanical. 
I know that it will be urged, that as those horses which 
e confined so many hours out oi the twenty~foui in their stalls, 
e not allowed to lie down except for a few hours at night, 
iese parts being placed perpendicularly under the weight, must 
ceive their due proportion of pressure, and contraction cannot 
icrue from this cause. This, how r ever, I deny ; for the superin- 
unbent weight alone, unaided by frequent motion, is not able to 
intend with the frog, the sole, and lengthened toe of a good, 
rm tough foot, with the accumulation of four or five weeks’ 
rowtlv m mechanically squeezing them down. Unless these 
arts are subjected to this motion almost continually, rigidity 
asues; and then the first time the animal is hurried a little 
his pace on a hard road or stones, a biuise is the con^e— 
uence, and the lameness appears to be a case of concussion. 
This view of the matter, I flatter myself, wall rather decide in 
ivour of the intelligent and observing Nimrod, whose remarks on 
iorses’ feet have been much questioned and scrutinized, because 
lis practical experience has taught him to be wholly indifferent 
bout contracted hoofs, provided the small bone of the foot is 
ound; he ridicules the compression on the great bone, the coffin, 
jecause ther&is no joint cramped, and therefore no lameness. 
From the variety of navicular specimens I have had the grati- 
ication of showing this distinguished charactei of tne sporting 
vorld, he well knows that many a five-hundred-guinea-hunter 
las sunk, to rise no more, down to fifteen in a very short space of 
ime, from the ravage of the navicular disease alone. In some 
nstances, this direful malady occupies no more space m the uni— 
nated machine than a pea would co\ci, 01 the decayed part of a 
aollow tooth would exhibit. This destructive malady has, on a 
late occasion, been emphatically expiessed, The curse upon good 
horseflesh.” 
I have dissected all the groggy feet that I have been able to 
procure, and have found the navicular joint diseased in eveiy in- 
strinc6 
This joint is formed by the navicular bone and the flexor ten¬ 
don, where the tendon articulates with the bone, forming a cir¬ 
cumscribed cavity, which is supplied with synovia, or joint oil, to 
lubricate and prevent friction between the internal polished surface 
of the tendon and the smooth cartilage covering the navicular 
bone. 
