FOOT
.—The foot of a horse extends from the FETLOCK-JOINT to the OUTER SOLE at the bottom of the hoof: it includes the CORONARY-BONE, the NUT-BONE, the COFFIN-BONE, and the inner sole, (or membranous mass,) in which it is deposited; as well as the frog and the wall or hoof surrounding and supporting the whole.—See Feet.
FOOT-FOUNDERED
.—A horse is said to be FOOT-FOUNDEREd when there is an evident defect in action, and a palpable tenderness, which prevents him from putting his feet freely and boldly to the ground. This malady seems never to have been clearly comprehended, or perfectly explained, by any of those who have written upon the subjects included in the general practice of FARRIERY. It is to be observed, that HORSES labouring under this infirmity, have become gradually contracted in the hoof, and proportionally narrowed at the heels, putting their feet before each other with as much fear and caution, as if they were moving upon a sheet of red-hot iron; the RIDER of any such horse, being constantly in the happy expectation of the horse's pitching upon his head, and probably breaking the rider's own neck.
The very few reasons hitherto assigned for the origin of this defect, "as being watered when too hot, then setting the horse upon cold planks without litter;" "heats and colds, which disorder the body, and excite malignant humours, that inflame the blood, melt the grease, and make it descend downward to the feet, where it settles, and causes a numbness in the hoofs;" are so truly nugatory, that they are not for a single moment entitled to SCIENTIFIC disquisition. The only two RATIONAL CAUSES which can be assigned for this disorder (if it can with propriety be so termed) seem never to have attracted professional observation or reflection. That it has its foundation in long and hard riding (or drawing) upon the hard and hot roads in the summer months, will not admit of a single doubt; which foundation once laid, is not only increased by every repetition of the original cause, but a formidable addition made to it by the shameful and destructive practice of fitting red-hot shoes, from THE FORGE, to the foot of the horse; an unrelenting act of cruelty, constantly and obstinately persevered in at almost every shoeing-shop in the kingdom, by which infernal act alone, hundreds of horses are annually FOOT-FOUNDERED; to crush which evil, THE LEGISLATURE would not find itself degraded, by enacting a prohibitory LAW, any more than by condescending to protect the persons of the outside passengers upon a STAGE COACH.
To justify what is advanced upon the subject of FOOT-FOUNDER, let it be recollected, that persevering friction will produce fire; of which we have repeated proofs in the number of carriages known to have taken fire upon the roads, and to have been totally consumed. We are convinced a piece of cold iron, struck with a hammer five or six times in succession upon an anvil, will quickly afford a communication of fire to a match; this being reduced to an incontrovertible certainty, what must be the excess of heat produced by the EFFECT of ATTRITION between the shoe of a horse and the hardness of the road in the summer months, the animal going a FIFTEEN or TWENTY miles stage, at the rate of twelve or fourteen miles an hour?
Why, the effect is precisely this; that, by the time the horse has travelled a few miles, the RIDER dismounting, will find, upon instantaneous examination, the shoe has acquired (by the attrition already described) a degree of heat beyond his power to bear with his hand, without being seriously burned. The effect of heat without, being the same within, acts so powerfully (in proportion to the continuation of the journey, and the state of the road) upon the foot of the horse, particularly those of the weakest texture, and the most susceptible, that the INNER SOLE (or membranous mass in which the coffin-bone is lodged) becomes in time, and by repetition, partially divested of its moisture, the very source of sensation; upon which contraction of the internal parts, the HOOF losing its means and support of expansion, contracts in a corresponding degree, constituting the impoverished appearance, brittle-hoof, and narrow heel, previously described.
Those who have been so exceedingly sparing, or so accidentally sterile, in respect to the causes of this DEFECT, have, nevertheless, been sufficiently liberal in directing A CURE. "First, pare all the horse's soles so thin that you may see the quick; then bleed him well at every toe; after which stop the vein with tallow and resin melted together; and having tacked some hollow shoes slightly on his feet, stop them with bran, tar, and tallow, melted together, and poured into the feet as hot as can well be born; repeat this every other day for a week or nine days, after which give him proper exercise daily; or, what is still better, turn him out for six weeks, if it is a proper season for so doing."
Whether this mode, so strenuously recommended, and copied by one writer from another, is likely to effect a cure, every reader will enjoy the privilege of judging for himself: it is, however, most likely that those who rely upon any professional exertions for total obliteration, will be disappointed, and that occasional palliation is all that can be reasonably expected. There is, however, no doubt, but frequent and plentiful impregnations of the whole hoof, and bottom of the foot, with SPERMA CÆTI OIL, made warm over the fire, will contribute as much to the expansion of the hoof, and the regeneration of membranous moisture in its contents, as any other means whatever.