Inclination, or Obliquity of the Horses Foot 



465 



the animals caused to be excessively awkward, 

 but if feet, already low at the heels, having 

 wide, thin, and weak soles, long toes and 

 reduced walls, are subjected to the process 

 we have named, the consequences are very 

 disastrous. 



The angle of inclination varies in different 

 horses, and the fore feet have always a lower 

 degree than the hind. This may be 

 accounted for by observing that the former 

 are actively used for suddenly arresting 

 progress in rapid flight, the hind feet being 

 agent of propulsion, for each of which they 

 are admirably formed. Nevertheless, we 

 cannot admit that it is correct to say, as 

 many authorities do, that the angle of the 



horse's foot may be taken as being 45 deg. 

 After repeated trials, we can state with con- 

 fidence that there are more healthy feet 

 having an angle of about 55 deg. than of 

 any other kind. In other words, that is the 

 average of numbers, being 10 degrees above 

 what is often said to be the case. 



As the angle of obliquity in the horse's 

 foot is of so much importance in maintaining 

 a proper position under all circumstances, 

 it is useful to endeavour to preserve that 

 degree which is necessary for the particular 

 form of limb. In the preparation of the 

 foot for the shoe this is seldom taken into 

 account; we shall, therefore, endeavour to 

 take up the details in our next. 



HORSES' SHOES. 



AMONG the many evils which tend to the 

 destruction of horses' feet, shoes may 

 be included. They rank next to the exces- 

 sive use of knife, rasp, and other mutilating 

 tools. 



Probably the most common error into which 

 the ignorant farrier plunges, is the practice of 

 adapting strong heavy shoes when the feet 

 are weakened from undue reduction. The 

 foot now needs protection, he argues, but 

 tails to understand that an extra weight of 

 iron has to be carried, and at a time when 

 there is too little means for its proper attach- 

 ment. Heavy shoes require more nails, and 

 feet already reduced are not able to accom- 

 modate them ; thus it happens the sensitive 

 parts are either compressed by the bulging of 

 horn at the place where the nail or nails are 

 driven, or they are punctured — and in the 

 language of the groom and farrier " pricked ; " 

 from which lameness of more or less duration 

 results. 



Other evils are engendered by the applica- 

 tion of this clumsy remedy. It is impossible to 

 tighten sufficiently the clenches of the nails 

 on weak feet. The animal winces under the 

 aj^plication of each stroke, and the brutal farrier 



VOL. [X. 



not unfrequently loses his temper, when the ° 

 suffering animal is severely chastised, almost 

 invariably, by the tools that happen to be in 

 use, marks of which may sometimes be seen 

 on the surface of the body hours afterwards. 

 The feet swell under effects of moisture which 

 they now absorb rapidly, and the position of 

 shoe and nails is altered ; and when the foot 

 contracts again the clenches appear like huge 

 hooks starting from the surface of the hoof, 

 and not unfrequently cause injury to the 

 opposite leg. 



Again, the action of nails on such feet 

 being like that of a wedge, i^arts are separated, 

 and thus the weight of the armature, as well 

 as effects of heat and moisture combined, do 

 not fail in loosening the shoe, and finally 

 losing it, as well as splitting piece after 

 piece, until it is a difficult matter to put on 

 a shoe at all. Heavy shoes impede action 

 and cause it to be slovenly, clumsy, and 

 unsafe, and as we have proved do not wear 

 so long as their weight and strength suggest. 

 The foot is not raised so freely from the 

 ground, and is put down with a sliding 

 action, and altogether the animal assumes a 

 gait altogether unnatural. We have found 



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