e horn of a ram. Even in cases in which
recovery has taken place, and in other diseases than laminitis, these
ridges may be found in the wall of the foot. In such cases, however, the
ridges are equally distant from one another all around the foot, while
in turning up of the toe the ridges are wide apart at the heels and
close together in front, as seen in the figure. (Plate XXXVII, fig. 4.)
These ridges are produced by periods of interference with the growth of
horn alternating with periods during which a normal or nearly normal
growth takes place. When the toe turns up it is because the coronary
band in front produces horn very slowly, while at the heels it grows
much faster, causing marked deformity.
Animals so affected always place the abnormally long heel first upon the
ground, not alone because the heel is too long, nor as in acute or
subacute laminitis to relieve the pain, but for the reason that the toe
is too short and lifted away from its natural position. To bring the toe
to the ground the leg knuckles at the fetlock joint.
The pain and impairment of function in these cases always result in
marked atrophy of the muscles of the forearm and shoulder, and to some
extent of the pectorals, while the position of the fore legs advances
the shoulder joints so far forward as to cause a sunken appearance of
the breast, which the laity recognize as "chest founder."
The lesions of turning up of the toe are permanent, and are the most
interesting pathologically of all the complications of laminitis.
_Treatment._--The treatment of laminitis is probably more varied than of
any other disease, and yet a large number of cases recover for even the
poorest practitioner.
_Prevention._--To guard against and prevent disease, or to render an
unpreventable attack less serious than it otherwise would be, is the
highest practice of the healing art. In a disease so prone to result
from the simplest causes, especially when the soundest judgment may not
be able to determine the extent of the disease-resisting powers of the
tissues which are liable to be affected, or of what shall in every
instance constitute an overexcitement, it is not strange that horse
owners find themselves in trouble from unintentional transgression. If
the disease were dependent upon specific causes, or if the stability of
the tissues were of a fixed or more nearly determinate quality, some
measures might be instituted that would prove generally preventive;
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