The new horny covering which invests the foot of the horse after sloughing of the hoof, as a termination to acute laminitis.
Such was the hoof which used to succeed sloughing under the old plan of treatment; the author is happy to state he has not witnessed such a misfortune since he has followed the practice which he here recommends.
The suppuration just spoken of was not of the copious kind, but was a tardy secretion mingled with bloody serum; it is astonishing such a fact should not have warned veterinary surgeons against following depletive measures. The effusion, however, of which the writer has next to speak is entirely the result of weakness. It does appear most strange that exhausting treatment should have been pursued as with infatuation, despite of so evident a warning. The parts which in health only secrete horn, during exhaustion throw out serum, or the thinner portion of the blood. This separates the coffin-bone from its attachments, while the imposed weight forces the loosened bone from its natural position. To make this more clear, diagrams of a natural foot, and of one which has suffered distortion from acute laminitis, are represented on page 374. In the natural foot, the pedal bone is situated close to the outer crust; in the laminitic foot, the bone is forced downward toward the sole, which it ultimately penetrates. There is an artery running around the lower edge of the coffin-bone; upon this artery the animal, if suffered to live, would, after displacement of the coffin-bone, be obliged to tread. The consequence is that a horse, having a foot thus distorted, cannot by any possibility take a sound step; it lives in torture and moves in anguish.
DIAGRAM.
A section of the horse's foot, showing the
natural and relative situations of the
bones which enter into the formation of
the horse's foot when in a healthy state.
DIAGRAM.
A section of the horse's foot after one of
the terminations to acute laminitis, exposing
the interior of the hoof when the coffin-bone
has fallen from its original situation.