As laminitis generally attacks the fore feet, the poor beast in his anguish endeavours to throw his weight off them by resting on his hind quarters, which are tucked under him, with the fore legs and feet pushed out before him merely to keep him from falling; he can barely hobble if he attempts to move. If the fever be only slight and in one foot, he will point it, while extreme lameness and unnatural heat in the foot mark the disease. The shoe should (in this as in all cases of foot-lameness) be instantly removed by a smith brought to the stable instead of giving the poor creature the pain of limping to the forge.
The foot should be put into cold water, constantly renewed, and kept in it all day; at night a bran poultice or water-dressing should be left on (_see_ “Water-dressing” and “Poultices,” page 160). Also administer a purge.
In acute cases, bleeding at the toe is sometimes practised by paring away there till the veins appear. This is a very questionable remedy, and there is little doubt that the use of the knife only aggravates the inflammation.
The fact is, that beyond its incipient stage none but the veterinary surgeon is competent to deal with this disease.
Its prevention is best secured by requiring moderate work only, and at the proper road-paces—viz., walking and trotting—keeping the feet moist, wetting them occasionally during a long journey, and _regularly stopping them directly after each day’s severe work_.—_See_ “Grooming,” page 12.
_Navicular Disease_ is, unfortunately, a very common one with horses; and when the delicate structure of the foot is considered in connection with the rough usage the creature gets on hard roads while carrying a heavy weight on his back, it is only surprising that the feet bear such jarring at all.
The navicular is the small pulley-bone over which the flexor tendon passes, and being the most active of any of the foot-bones, is the most likely to be injured by ill usage (_see_ page 128). The symptoms are lameness, with more or less pointing of the foot when at rest, and heat towards the quarters of the lame foot.
Unlike laminitis, the lameness is inconsiderable at first, and increases as the disease progresses.
Being so deep-seated, it is very difficult to cure. In the incipient stages the most effectual remedy appears to be the insertion of frog-setons, requiring the assistance of a veterinary surgeon. In most instances the case is hopeless, and many a fine horse is sold to limp out a life of misery, drawing a hack cab, or, with a refinement of cruelty, is subject to the operation of unnerving the foot, which, by destroying sensation in that part, enables the animal to travel without apparent lameness, though the disease continues to progress till part of the foot has been known to drop off in work. Being a result of work to which all horses are liable, no mode of prevention can be recommended.