Rational Horse-Shoeing | Page 7

often well to free a shrunken frog from the binding growth of sole
that has closed in upon it, and in cases of contraction, where this is
done, a horse will recover the action of the frog with less difficulty than
where that organ is sole-bound.
THRUSH.
This is a filthy, fetid disease of the frog. By many veterinary writers it
is attributed entirely to damp stables, general nasty condition of stall,
yard, etc. Mayhew ingenuously remarks, in addition, that it is usually
found in animals that "step short or go groggily," and that the hoof is
"hot and hard." Youatt comes to the point at once in saying that it is the
effect of contraction, and, when established, is also a cause of further
contraction. It is manifest in a putrid discharge from the frog. The
matter is secreted by the inner or sensible frog, excited to this morbid
condition by pressure of contraction. Its cure is simple and easy if the
cause is removed. A wash of brine, or chloride of zinc, three grains to
the ounce of water, is generally used to correct the foulness.
CHAPTER VII.
BENT KNEES INTERFERENCE, AND SPEEDY CUT.

The knee of a horse is a most complicated and beautiful mechanical
arrangement, singularly exempt from strain or disease in any form.
Bony enlargement, inflammation of the ligaments, do not attack it. The
ravage of the shoeing-smith--the horse's direst enemy--seems to be
exhausted upon the feet and the sympathetic pasterns; the concussion of
iron and pavement, uncushioned by the frog, will destroy the lower
system of joints before the knee can be shaken.
Notwithstanding this perfection and strength, many horses bend the
knee, and stand, or travel with it bent, until the flexor muscles shrink
from lack of use. This "over in the knees" condition is invariably
caused by imperfect use of the feet. The effect of heel-calks and their
accompaniment of corns, making a sore in each heel, is often indicated
by the horse to his regardless owner by bending his knee. The owner
asks the smith why he does it, and the smith, who never fails to give a
reason, says he has always noticed that horse had "weak knees." We
know of a shoer in Worcester County, Massachusetts, who has a wide
local reputation for "doctoring" weak knees. He holds that the muscles
of the leg in such cases are too short, and have to be lengthened with
thick iron heels and calks. It is a favorite theory of this class of shoers
that they are able to correct the errors of Providence in the horse's
construction, and piece him out with heel-calks and bar-shoes!
INTERFERING AND SPEEDY CUT.
If horses were not shod, they would not interfere; it therefore follows
that shoeing is the cause of this defect. A contracted hoof, pain from
corns, or any inflammation causes a horse to seek a new bearing. In
doing this he strikes himself. Blacksmiths make "interfering shoes,"
welding side-pieces and superfluous calks upon their clumsy
contrivances, and sometimes succeed in preventing the symptom, but
they never remove the cause. Few horses with natural feet, good
circulation, and shod with a light shoe, will ever interfere. In all such
cases, take off the heavy shoe, cure the contraction, get an even bearing,
and let nature have at least a momentary chance.
WORKING UP HORSES.

It is a common practice of large proprietors, engaged on railroad or city
work, to buy up horses with unsound feet, unfitted for speed or gentle
service, and use them up, as old clothes are put through a shoddy-mill
for what wool there is left in them. This cruel policy, under an
intelligent system of shoeing, would be impossible, because the vast
aggregate of foot diseases would be so abated that horses, sound in
general health but creeping upon disabled hoofs, could not be found in
droves, as at present, and the speculator in equine misfortune would
better serve his selfishness by buying young horses and keeping them
sound by a natural system of shoeing.
STUMBLING HORSES.
This annoyance is frequently caused by undue use of the toe, when the
heel is lame and sore from contraction and corns. When the horse has
the frog well on the ground and uses his heel without shrinking he is
not apt to stumble.
TO INCREASE COMFORT.
In dry weather, or when a horse with a hard, lifeless hoof is shod with
the Goodenough shoe, and shrinks from the unaccustomed pressure of
the frog on the ground, nothing is so grateful to his feet as cold water.
The hose turned on them is a delicious bath; or if he can stand for an
hour in a wet place, or in a running brook, he will get infinite comfort
from it. We have sometimes rapidly