418 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



TREATMENT. 



Wbeu the trouble is due to deformity or faulty conformation, it 

 maj'' not be possible to overcome the defect. In such cases, and as 

 well in those due to exhaustion or fatigue, the fetlock or ankle boot 

 must be used. In many instances interfering may be prevented by 

 proper shoeing. The outside heel and quarter of the foot on the 

 injured leg should be lowered sufficiently to change the relative 

 position of the fetlock joint by bringing it further away from the 

 centre plane of the body, thereby permitting the other foot to pass 

 by without striking. 



Shoeing to prevent interfering is an easy matter if one under- 

 stands the auatom}" of the leg of the horse well enough to tell when 

 he is out of balance, and that is the primary cause for all troubles 

 of like character, such as knee-knocking, overreaching, forging, 

 clicking, etc. If the horse "toes out," pare off the inside as much as 

 possible, putting on a shoe with a long outside, so as to bring the toe 

 of the foot in a straight line with the body. If the foot cannot be 

 brought up level by paring, put on a thick-sided shoe, so as to make 

 the foot look straight when standing down on the floor. 



I wish here to call the attention of both owner and shoer to two 

 things that causes horses to interfere, when otherwise they would 

 not, and that is the adjusting of the breeching, not getting it too 

 low; also I have known many horses to interfere from the cause of 

 the teeth being bad, causing the horse to side-line or become restless 

 when driven, throwing them out of balance. 



OVER REACHING. 



An overreach is where the shoe of the hindfoot strikes and in- 

 jures the heel or quarter of the forefoot. It rarely happens except 

 when the animal is going fast, hence is most common in trotting and 

 running horses. In trotters, the accident generally happens when 

 the animal breaks from a trot to a run. The outside heels and 

 quarters are most liable to injury. 



SYMPTOMS. 



The coronet at the heel or quarter is bruised or cut, the injury 

 in some instances involving the horn as well. Where the hindfoot 

 strikes well back on the heel of the forefoot an accident knowQ 

 among horsemen as "grabbing," the shoe may be torn from the 

 forefoot or the animal fall on his knees. Horses accustomed to 

 overreaching are often bad "breakers,-' for the reason that the pain 

 of the injury so excites them that they cannot be readily brought 

 back to the trotting gait. 



