The Illustrated Horse Doctor / Being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjected

by Edward Mayhew

THE CERTAIN TEST FOR OSSIFIED CARTILAGES.

ACUTE LAMINITIS, OR FEVER IN THE FEET.

This term implies that the disease is confined to the laminæ; the word certainly warrants an inference that the other secreting surfaces within the hoof are not implicated; such a meaning is generally conceived to be intended. The name, by inducing erroneous opinion, does much injury; the old appellation of fever in the feet is, therefore, much more characteristic and altogether more correct.

The entire of the fleshy portion of the foot is involved in this terrible affliction; any man, who has had an abscess beneath some part where the cuticle is strong, or who has endured a whitlow, may very distantly imagine the pain suffered by the horse during fever of the feet. Such an individual, if his creative powers be very brilliant, may vaguely conjecture the torture sustained by the quadruped; but no power possibly can realize to the full the anguish sustained by the animal. Man does not, like the horse, rest upon his finger's end, and, if he did, the pain he would then suffer could not be likened to the terrible affliction borne by the animal, for the following reasons: What is the weight of any man to that of a quadruped? What is the thickness of his skin or the substance of his nail to the hardness and stoutness of the horse's hoof? The human skin is elastic, and the end of the finger permits some swelling of its fleshy portion; but the secreting membrane of the horse's foot lies between two materials almost equally unyielding. Bone is within, and horn is without; the heat soon dries the last and deprives it of its elasticity; the first is naturally unyielding; thus the secreting substance, largely supplied with blood, because of inflammation, and acutely endowed with sensation when swollen and diseased, is compressed between the two bodies as in a vice. To conceive the amount of anguish and to imagine the violence of the disorder, we have only to recognize the pathological law, that Nature is conservative in all her organizations; she protects parts in proportion to their importance to the welfare of her creatures, and reluctantly allows injury to be inflicted on any vital organ, though she may even permit deprivation of those members which are not essential to the animal economy.

A man may lose a leg; he can live, enjoy life, and to a certain extent effect progression with a wooden substitute. Touch the heart of a man, however, and being ends. The heart is guarded by the ribs, and so securely is it protected that, even in battle, the organ is seldom punctured; the hoof of the horse is almost as important to the animal as is the heart to the human being. In a free state progression is necessary to the support of the body; when domesticated, the horse is valued according to its power to progress.

Yet, the member so important to the creature is, by the nature of laminitis, frequently disorganized, and a valuable quadruped, by the affliction, may be reduced from the highest price to a knacker's purchase money.

There is some dispute about the kind of hoof most liable to this disease. English authors incline toward the weak or slanting hoof. Continental writers, however, suppose the strong or upright hoof is most exposed to the affliction. Neither party, however, assert any kind of hoof to be exempt; therefore, it may be supposed, were all circumstances similar, every kind of foot would be equally subjected to laminitis.

There is but one cause for acute laminitis—man's brutality. Horses driven far and long over hard, dry roads, frequently exhibit the disease. Cab and post, as well as gentlemen's horses, after a fine day at Epsom or at Ascot, not unfrequently display the disorder. Animals which have to stand and strain the feet for any period, as cavalry horses upon a long sea voyage, if, upon landing, they are imprudently used without sufficient rest, will assuredly fail with this incapacitating malady. Any extraordinary labor may induce laminitis. Hunters, after a hard run, and racers, subsequently to heats, are liable to be attacked; especially should the ground be in the state we have before intimated.

Acute laminitis does not immediately declare itself; the pace of the animal, when its work is drawing to a close, may be remarkable; but this is attributed to the effects of exhaustion. The creature reaches the stable; the surface of the body is rubbed over; the manger and the rack are filled; a fresh bed is quickly shaken down, for, in the opinion of grooms, quiet does horses extreme good. The animal is left for the night, under the impression that it has everything one of the race could require.

The next morning the horse is found all of a heap, and the food untouched; the flesh is quivering; the eyes are glaring; the nostrils are distended, and the breath is jerking. The flanks are tucked up, the back is roached, the head is erect, and the mouth is firmly closed; the hind legs are advanced, to take the bearing from the inflamed fore members; the front feet are pushed forward, so as to receive the least possible amount of weight, and that upon the heels; but the feet thus placed are constantly on the move. Now, one leg is slightly bent; then, that is down and the other is raised; the horse is, according to a vulgar phrase, "dancing on hot irons."