294 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



and by adding pressure is of much advantage in 

 reducing hard and callous substances. After firing, it 

 will be found of much advantage to turn out the 

 animal to grass for three or four months. 



Firing should always be either in parallel or longi- 

 tudinal lines, particularly on the coronet, fetlock, and 

 back sinews, for the reason that the skin will contract, 

 so as to form the greatest uniformity of pressure. 



NEUROTOMY, OR CUTTING THE NERVE. 



The valuable services of the horse would be in a 

 great degree circumscribed, but for the artificial pro- 

 tection of his hoofs by an iron shoe. Without this his 

 feet would soon be battered to pieces going over our 

 hard roads. But while shoes protect his flexible 

 horny hoofs from injury, they at the same time cramp 

 and confine them, from the inflexible nature of the 

 iron and tight nailing, which, without great care, lays 

 the foundation of many diseases, and those too of a 

 very painful description. 



To alleviate to a certain extent the severity of 

 those painful complaints, veterinary surgeons have 

 adopted the practice of cutting the nerve which goes 

 to the foot. This nerve has its origin in the union of 

 several of the spinal nerves, and consequently is a 

 nerve which gives both motion and feeling to the foot. 

 The fibres, however, which are connected with motion 

 are carried only to those parts which are concerned in 

 producing motion, and these are muscles. The in- 

 fluence of the nerves acting upon the muscles cause 

 them to contract, and consequently the limbs are 

 moved. The bones, blood-vessels, and other parts are 

 merely passive agents. The muscles of the leg do not 

 extend below the knee, and the fibres of the nerves 

 concerned in motion are distributed above that joint, 



