A CASE OF SPRINGHALT. 
581 
nearly round, the wall short, the sole low, the bars strong - , 
the heels short, and the frog of medium size. The horn seemed 
fairly healthy, but it grasped the extremity like a vise, caus¬ 
ing him such uneasiness that often during the night he would 
dance about for several minutes at a time, making it difficult 
to enter the stall or go near him. Indeed, his attempts at lo¬ 
comotion were ludicrous, and he threw himself down several 
times and yelled either from pain, fright, or irritation, due 
probably to some form of neuritis or neurosis. 
I wrote to Dr. Howard, through Dr. Austin Peters, the 
Secretary of the Massachusetts Veterinary Association, stat¬ 
ing that I had seen the animal, and that having treated such 
cases, though never one so bad, I could demonstrate that the 
primary trouble was not in the spinal cord, which had very 
little seriously wrong with it, but in the feet. I also offered 
to take one leg, any one else who had a theory of his own or 
others on the subject taking the other. Nobody wanted it, 
however, so the case was kindly turned over to me, and on 
June 9th, 1891, I commenced treatment as follows: 
A horseshoer, with a sharp knife and rasp, was secured. 
The foot when lifted was held with great difficulty. The 
wall was thinned with the. rasp all it would bear as high as 
the coronet. The sole was next leveled ; the inside wall, both 
from the fact that he toed out and his stamping his foot with 
great violence on the inner half, was low. The soles were 
carefully trimmed ; the commissures pared out; the bars 
thinned, and the heels opened. This greatly, relieved the 
crowded structures within, and removed the mechanical pres¬ 
sure and interference with the blood vessels and nerves of the 
extremity. He was then left in charge of Mr. Andrew Ward, 
who took great interest in the case, furnishing keep and faith¬ 
ful attendants who had orders to keep his feet continually in 
poultices. For two or three days he tolerated this treatment, 
and improved at least fifty per cent.; but from his own efforts 
to get the poultices off, or from the bags being tied too tight, 
his pasterns became badly corded and so sore that he became 
almost unmanageable. Nothing further could be accomplished 
until these sores were healed. This was followed’by a slight 
