Rational Horse-Shoeing | Page 6

our paragraph upon "Incipient Unsoundness," being sure to cut the heel well down, putting the bearing fully upon the frog and three-quarters of the foot. If the hoof is weak from long contraction and defective circulation, lower the heels and whole wall, until the frog comes well upon the ground, and shoe with a "slipper," or "tip," made by cutting off a light shoe just before the middle calk, drawing it down and lowering the toe-calk partially. This will seem dangerous to those who have not tried it, but it is not so. The horse may flinch a little at first, from his unaccustomed condition, and from the active life that will begin to stir in his dry, hard, and numb foot, but he will enjoy the change. The healing of the crack will be from the coronet down, and it is good practice to cut with a sharp knife just above the split, and to clean all dirt and dead substance out from the point where you cut, downwards. Soaking the feet in water will facilitate a cure by quickening the growth of the hoof; or, a stimulating liniment may be applied to the coronet, to excite more active growth. Bear in mind that expansion is not from the sole upwards, but from the coronet downwards.
TOE CRACKS.
The cause of this defect is the same as in quarter crack. It appears in both fore and hind feet. Clean the crack well, cutting with a sharp knife the dead horn from each side of it; shoe as advised for quarter crack, or for the purpose of getting expansion and natural action of the dead, shelly hoof. The dirt and sand may be kept out of the crack by filling it with balsam of fir, or pine pitch. Keep the horse at regular work.

[Illustration: QUARTER CRACK--HALF SHOE.]
CHAPTER VI.
DROP SOLE AND PUMICED FOOT.
This miserable condition of the abused animal is Nature's fiercest protest against the ignorance and carelessness of man. A horse set upon heavy shoes, and those armed with calks at toe and heel, such as are usually inflicted upon large draft-horses, has his whole weight placed upon the unsupported sole. The frog never comes in contact with the earth in any way, inflammation of the sensitive frog and sole takes place, and the arch of the sole bends down under the pressure until the ground surface of the hoof becomes flat or convex, bulging down even lower than the cruel iron that clamps its edge. This is the condition of a drop sole. This degenerate state of the foot has other complications. Active inflammation is often present and all the wretchedness of a pumiced foot--the despair of owner and veterinary--is experienced. The smith, whose clumsy contrivance has been the cause of all the woe, has abundant reasons to offer for the disease, and his unfailing resort of the "Bar Shoe." This atrocious fetter is supplemented with leather pads, sometimes daubed with tar, and the horse hobbles to his task. Not unfrequently the crust at the front of the hoof sinks in, adhering to the sole; circulation being cut off,
SEEDY TOE
is then manifest.
The only possible relief from these complications is in natural action. Contraction is not present, but we want circulation, new growth and absorption; we obtain it by dressing the foot smoothly with the rasp and putting the bearing evenly upon the frog and a light shoe, which should be merely a continuation of the wall of the foot. Many very bad cases shod in this way have been relieved. No grease or tar should ever be used.
CONTRACTION, OR DROP SOLE, WITH SORENESS AT THE TOE.
Shoe as previously directed, and rasp or cut the sole and wall at the toe into a slightly hollow shape, so that you could pass a knife-blade between the hoof and shoe. The object of this is to relieve the hoof from pressure at this point. In cases where the toe is thin and weak, or where there is inflammation extending to the point of the frog, remove as much of the sole pressing against the frog as seems feasible, and level the toe-calk, so that the horse will bear upon the frog and side-calks.
It is 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