Hoofbeat

“ The horn capsule or hoof is nothing more than a very thick epidermis that protects the horse’s foot, just as a well-fitting shoe protects the human foot. The hoof of a sound foot is so firmly united with the underlying pododerm that only an extraordinary force can separate them. In its normal condition the hoof exactly fits the soft structures within it; hence it is evident that local or general contraction of the hoof must produce pressure on the blood-vessels and nerve-endings of the pododerm, disturb the circulation of the blood and the nutrition of the foot, and cause pain. ”

“ But if one beat be lighter than the others, it may be assumed that there is some disease in the foot or leg that produces this beat. Horse-dealers will often endeavor to disguise this defect by adopting means to disable the animal temporarily in his healthy leg, as the treads will then be made more nearly alike, though the slight shade of difference thus effected can be readily detected by a quick, experienced ear. ”

“ Unsoundness in one or both fore legs naturally makes a horse chary of jumping, because of the painful jar which he will receive on landing, when he is obliged to place his entire weight on his fore legs. Then again, if his feet are not in a hard and sound condition, he “funks” the pain of landing over a fence and tries his best to avoid jumping. Many unsound horses, generally hirelings, are hammered along out hunting, especially on roads, with most inconsiderate cruelty. I once tried to hunt on a hireling which, I soon saw, was not in a fit state to carry me without pain. ”

“ Horn is, of course, not sensitive, although the slightest touch on a horse's hoof is recognised by the animal, and this feeling is due to the impression made upon the sensitive foot. In the living horse any injury to the "quick" causes the greatest pain, and although this sensitiveness is a serious disadvantage in disease it is a most valuable provision in health, enabling the horse, even through a thick layer of horn, to recognise the quality of the surface upon which he may be standing or moving. ”

“ If the animal will not submit to inspection, look out! The horse that will not allow one to handle his ears, or fights when the attempt is made, may be a terror to shoe, and therefore has had the “twitch” put on his ear many a time in the blacksmith’s shop; or he may have had poll-evil, some injury to the ear, or head, or have a disease present which makes the ear sore or sensitive. A horse so affected is difficult to handle, as he fights when the halter or bridle is put on. ”

“ The second, “diastolic,” or “flapping,” sound, cannot be heard in a fat, circular-chested horse; it is supposed to arise from the regurgitation of the blood, which is in the aorta and pulmonary arteries, forcibly closing the valves placed at their origin in the ventricles, so as to prevent the blood coming back into the heart. These sounds together form what is called the “beat,” and are succeeded by a brief interval of repose. In the healthy animal these beats are uniform and regular, corresponding with the pulse ”

“ Pain in the ear of a horse is discoverable immediately by its flaccidity, and painful deprivation of erection. The ear lays nearly flat either one way or another; the horse is almost every minute giving violent shakes of his head, which he as constantly leaves hanging down on the side affected; from which circumstances alone the seat of pain may with certainty be ascertained. Pains in the ear may arise from various causes, as colds, blows, the insinuation of, or sting from, forest flies, bees, wasps, or hornets. ”

“ Contrary to roaring, when the animal is put to severe exertion the sound ceases. An animal that emits this sound is called a "high blower." Some horses have naturally very narrow nasal openings, and they may emit sounds louder than usual in their breathing when exercised.
Whistling is only one of the variations of the sound emitted by a horse called a "roarer," and therefore needs no further notice, except to remind the reader that a whistling sound may be produced during an attack of severe sore throat or inflammation of the larynx, which passes away with the disease that causes it. ”

“ The nervous system of a fresh and highly-fed horse sends its order to the motory system so quickly, that no time is allowed for him to consider whether or not the danger is real. After one violent start, when he is excited and the blood flows freely through his brain, he is very apt to start again; and so it is, as I have noticed, with young infants.
A start from a sudden noise, when the stimulus is conveyed through the auditory nerves, is always accompanied in grown-up persons by the winking of the eyelids. ”

“ Thick wind is caused by an obstruction to the free passage of the air in some part of the respiratory tract. Nasal polypi, thickening of the membrane, pharyngeal polypi, deformed bones, paralysis of the wing of the nostril, etc., are occasional causes. The noisy breathing of horses after having been idle and put to sudden exertion is not due to any disease and is only temporary. Very often a nervous, excitable horse will make a noise for a short time when started off, generally caused by the cramped position in which the head and neck are forced in order to hold him back. ”

“ The respiration becomes accelerated to 25 or 30 in a minute, and the pulse is quickened to 70, 80, or even 100, moderate in volume and in force. There is great depression of muscular force; the animal stands limp, as if excessively fatigued. There is diminution, or in some cases total loss, of sensibility of the skin, so that it may be pricked or handled without attracting the attention of the animal. On movement, the horse staggers and shows a want of coordination of all the muscles of its limbs. ”

“ I daresay we waited quite half a minute, and then came the further restless clumping of a great hoof. Immediately afterwards, the sounds came right on, as if some invisible thing passed through the closed door, and the passage, and I know that I spread myself stiff against the wall. The clungk, clunck, clungk, clunck, of the great hoof-falls passed right between us, and slowly and with deadly deliberateness, down the passage. I heard them through a haze of blood-beats in my ears and temples, and my body extraordinarily rigid and pringling and breathless. ”

“ When effusion has taken place the pulse is weaker and softer, irregular or intermittent, the impulse of the heart is weaker, the friction sound is lost, and the area of dulness corresponding to the heart is increased. Percussion shows it to extend higher than three inches above the breast bone in the horse and more than two or two and a half inches transversely. ”

“ This wound, which may have healed completely, commences to itch until the horse rubs or bites it into a new sore. The horse then becomes irritable and vicious, and it is especially susceptible to moving objects, excessive light, noises, the entrance of an attendant, or any other disturbance will cause the patient to be on the defensive. It apparently sees imaginary objects; the slightest noise is exaggerated into threatening violence; the approach of an attendant or another animal, especially a dog, is interpreted as an assault and the horse will strike and bite. ”

“ It has been noticed as occurring in an animal when backing out of his stable and ceasing immediately after. In some animals it is best seen when the animal is turning around on the affected leg, and it is not noticed when he moves straight forward. That this peculiar action interferes with facility of locomotion and detracts from a horse's claim to soundness can not for a moment be denied. ”

“ Sometimes this condition of fear or stupor is the result of defective eyesight, and is brought about by the sensation of some object the effect of which has spread from the brain to the entire body. The sound of a locomotive or of an automobile sometimes, though not often, has a like effect. In the first instance, the correction is through the treatment of the horse's eyes by a veterinary. In the second, the procedure is to accustom the horse to the noise and to build up its confidence in its rider. ”

“ Kick in abdomen by horse: General spasticity; tremors; eye symptoms (e.g. monocular diplopia) ; convulsions. Improvement.
Case 311. (Oppenheim, July, 1915.)
A cuirassier was kicked by a horse on left side of abdomen, November 24, and lost consciousness. A month later, in hospital, hardness and tenderness to pressure of abdominal wall, spastic muscles everywhere, pseudospastic tremor of legs, and complaints of double vision were noted. He also had attacks of convulsions, in which he became unconscious, twitchings appeared, but the tongue was not bitten. ”

“ Should the injury run on to suppuration, the lameness becomes most acute. The pawing movements become more pronounced, and there is evident disinclination on the part of the animal to place the foot squarely on the ground. One is then led to manipulate the foot. The hoof is hot to the touch. Percussion causes the animal to flinch, and to flinch particularly when that portion of the wall adjoining the corn is struck. Finally, exploration with the knife reveals the serious extent to which the injury has developed. ”

“ This point cannot be too much insisted upon, as the fatal doctrine that a rapid pulse indicates force of the circulation is very misleading as to treatment.
The force and character of the pulse differ in the various species. In the horse it is full, moderately tense and elastic. In the ass and mule it is smaller and harder, with an inequality of force in successive beats, and sometimes even a beat is suppressed or imperceptible. ”

“ Theomnestus, a Greek veterinarian of the Byzantine empire, of whom extremely little is known, save what is to be casually gleaned from his vivacious writings, but who is supposed to have lived in the 6th century, speaks about excessive abrasion of the hoofs, and the application of this rush or wicker slipper. ‘If a horse is much worn in the hoofs by travelling, and is then neglected, he becomes feverish, and is soon destroyed by the fever if not attended to. ”

“ Percussion is of valuable service in this affection. After effusion occurs the sound produced by percussing over the lower part of the chest is dull. By striking different parts one may come to a spot of greater or less extent where the blows cause much pain to be evinced. The animal may grunt or groan every time it is struck. Another method of detecting the affected part is to press the fingers between the ribs, each space in succession, beginning behind the elbow, until a place where the pressure causes more flinching than at any other part is reached. Auscultation is also useful. ”

“ Long-continued rest in the stable, drying out of the hoof, and shoeing decrease or alter the physiological movements of the foot, and these lead under certain conditions to foot diseases, with which the majority of horse owners are entirely unacquainted. ”

“ This abnormal high action causes so much the greater shock on the feet when they come down on the stone, and this brings their shod hoofs to grief. Mr. Douglas says:—‘The evil effects of concussion, of the firm, hard blows from the ground, striking through the iron up a horse’s leg that is being driven fast along the road, cannot be over-estimated. ”

“ The mutilation of the hoof, by removing the best portion of its horn, at the very time it was most required, has inflicted serious injury on it and the bone over which it has to play during its arduous task of flexing the foot and limb; while the heavy iron shoe, and the increase of concussion it engenders on artificial roads, all tend to hasten the ruin of the animal—and sooner or later, depending on circumstances, we have either acute or chronic navicular disease, acute or chronic laminitis, or a host of other maladies of a more or less serious character. ”

“ But with the lameness there is nothing distinctive. The foot is tender on percussion, and the gait suggestive of foot lameness, that is all. We are unable, therefore, to make an exact diagnosis, and the condition goes for some time undetected.
Later, however, changes in the form of the hoof and the coronet begin to appear. The skin of the coronet, especially in the region of the toe, becomes more or less thickened and indurated, and the same remark applies to the subcutaneous tissues. The most marked change, however, is the alteration in the shape of the hoof. ”

“ From continued exercise on horseback they are seized with chronic defluxions in their joints owing to their legs always hanging down below their horses; they afterwards become lame and stiff at the hip-joint, such of them, at least, as are severely attacked with it. They treat themselves in this way: when the disease is commencing, they open the vein behind either ear, and when the blood flows, sleep, from feebleness, seizes them, and afterwards they awaken, some in good health and others not. ”

“ When the centre of the forces is thus disposed in the middle of the body, and when the rassembler is perfect, it is sufficient, in order to induce a commencement of piaffer, to communicate to the horse with the legs a vibration at first slight, but often repeated. By vibration I mean an invigoration of forces, of which the rider ought always to be the agent. ”

“ If, as in pneumonia, air has been displaced by inflammatory product occupying the air space, or if fluid collects in the lower part of the chest, the percussion sound becomes dull. If, as in emphysema, or in pneumothorax, [Pg 19] there is an excess of air in the chest cavity, the percussion sound becomes abnormally loud and clear.
Auscultation consists in the examination of the lungs with the ear applied closely to the chest wall. As the air goes in and out of the lungs a certain soft sound is made which can be heard distinctly, especially upon inspiration. ”