Disorders of the foot of the horse / [Bracy Clark].

  • Bracy Clark
Date:
[1839]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Disorders of the foot of the horse / [Bracy Clark]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    No. 1. ON THE CONTRACTED FOOT. Coarctipes. As the shoeing of the horse with an iron ring fixed on by nails has been in use for many centuries, without its principles being much attended to, or understood at least, so, it is clear that very few horses indeed could have escaped entirely, the consequences of its erroneous principle, if shod for any length of time. Since the retaining an highly elastic organ, such as the foot now turns out to be, in an immoveable barrier of iron, with nails on each side, and constituting together nearly a solid box, must inevitably pro- duce lamentable effects upon the constitution of such a foot. And that such has been the case will be fully understood by considering the rapid destruction of the animals them- selves that has taken place when so used, few comparatively reaching, or advancing beyond, the middle period of life, many not even attaining to this ; also the numerous accidents, some of the most grievous character, which have been daily, aye and oftener than the day, accruing from it, but being seen through a mist of terms, and dis- guised almost from public scrutiny, by a tricksy, specious language about it, strangely not obtain that serious attention they deserved, as to the real source of it. And it was also a circumstance most unfortunate for the public, as is usual indeed with abuses of nearly all kinds, that they were bringing grist to the mill of the artificer who was occasioning it, by the profit attending his pretended remedies, and his preventive measures, every one pretending to an exclusive knowledge in this respect. Although it is now clear that these artificers themselves had no true apprehension of the real source of the mischiefs they were occasioning. The affair affords us a most remarkable example of apathetic public indifference, extending through many centuries, concerning a flagrant abuse which interested in a primary degree, their pleasures, their property, and their lives. The disease of contracted foot appears to be produced in the following way That the external iron circle of the shoe being nailed on the opposite sides of the foot, resists all motion of the hoof in these directions, the consequence of which is, that as the foot is deeply cleft interiorly at the sole, and extensively divided there, especially posteriorly, which cleft is extending beyond the middle of its arch, and has its vacuity filled in with an highly elastic organ of soft horn, the furch, so there being no extension or motion of the foot permitted outwardly, the whole action of elastic yielding is taking place inwardly on these soft parts ; that is, when the sole, pressed upon by the weight of the animal’s body, flattens, and obliterates in part this cleft, which action, if not bounded and confined by the iron ring, would take place outwardly throughout the whole extent of the hoof, and thus we get contraction of the foot, with a condensation and diminishing of the whole volume of the hoof, and of all its contents.
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