he
center plane of the body, thereby permitting the other foot to pass by
without striking.

A very slight change is often sufficient to effect this result. At the
same time the offending foot should be so shod that the shoe may set
well under the hoof at the point responsible for the injury. The shoe
should be reset every three or four weeks.

When the cause has been removed, cold-water bandages to the injured
parts will soon remove the soreness and swelling, especially in recent
cases. If, however, the fetlock has become calloused from long-continued
bruising, a Spanish-fly blister over the parts, repeated in two or three
weeks if necessary, will aid in reducing the leg to its natural
condition.

KNUCKLING, OR COCKED ANKLES.

Knuckling is a partial dislocation of the fetlock joint, in which the
relative position of the pastern bone to the cannon and coronet bones is
changed, the pastern becoming more nearly perpendicular, with the lower
end of the cannon bone resting behind the center line of the large
pastern, while the lower end of this bone rests behind the center line
of the coronet. While knuckling is not always an unsoundness, it
nevertheless predisposes to stumbling and to fracture of the pastern.

_Causes._--Young foals are quite subject to this condition, but in the
great majority of cases it is only temporary. It is largely due to the
fact that before birth the legs were flexed, and time is required after
birth for the ligaments, tendons, and muscles to adapt themselves to the
function of sustaining the weight of the body.

As they grow old, horses with erect pasterns are very prone to knuckle,
especially in the hind legs. All kinds of heavy work, particularly in
hilly districts, and fast work on hard race tracks or roads are exciting
causes of knuckling. It is also commonly seen as an accompaniment of
that faulty conformation called clubfoot, in which the toe of the wall
is perpendicular and short, and the heels high--a condition most often
seen in the mule, especially in the hind feet.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXII.

ANATOMY OF FOOT.]

[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII.

ANATOMY OF FOOT.]

[Illustration: PLATE XXXIV.

ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE FOOT.]

[Illustration: PLATE XXXV.

SOUND AND CONTRACTED FEET.]

Lastly, knuckling is produced by disease of the suspensory ligament or
of the flexor tendons, whereby they are shortened, and by disease of the
fetlock joints. (See p. 372.)

_Treatme