U. S. VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
457 
of function, diminished circulation, and exposure to the evaporating currents of 
air, and are frequent causes of the disease. Traveling at speed on hard roads, 
and certain other demands, which may only cause temporary pain in the foot, 
may, at the same time, be the starting-point of contraction. 
Lateral deviation of the foot from its normal position, whether the cause be 
in the foot itself, in the pastern, or higher up, at the fetlocks, brings pressure on 
the sides of a quarter, forces the latter in, and exposes the other quarter, and 
quickly produces trouble. Uneven paring of the foot and crooked shoeing, quit- 
tors, and ringbones, in this way are frequent causes. 
Fig. 6. 
/ 1 
schematic Column. First, Second, and Third Phalanges. 
I, Normal; II, Uneven paring, producing at A pressure of bones, at A strain of ligaments. 
Ill, A ringbone, producing pressure on quarter, same side. 
Surgical operations for quittor and pricked foot are frequently followed by 
contraction. 
SYMPTOMS. 
The characteristic appearance of a contracted foot is usually sufficient to 
allow of its recognition. There is an alteration in form, which may be total or 
partial. In the former case, the foot is smaller than its fellow (if both feet are 
contracted, it is rare that they are of equal size); the foot is ovoid, from the 
diminished quarters and seemingly increased antero-posterior diameter; the 
heels are high, or, in flat feet, may be found with their outer walls lying on the 
branches of the shoe. The frog is atrophied, and exudes a foul-smelling sweat 
from the lacunae, and the concavity of the sole is increased. The wall is found 
dry and hard, or at times has a peculiar shiny appearance, and it is frequently 
lined with little fibrillar cords. Again, there is an uneven rolling of the surface, 
caused by circular elevations and gutters. The bars approach a vertical 
position. 
