CONTRACTION, 293 



heel, and the frog is diminished in width, and the sole beconies more con- 

 cave, and the heels higher, and lameness, or at least a shortened and feelipg 

 action, ensues. 



Here we must premise that there is a great deal more horror of con- 

 t'-acled heels than there is any occasion for. Many persons reject a horse, 

 at once if the quarters are loiring in; but the fact is, that although this la 

 an unnatural form of the hoof, it is slow of growth, and nature kindly 

 makes that provision for the slowly altered form of the hoof, which she 

 does in similar cases; she accommodates the parts to the change of form. 

 As the hoof draws in, the parts beneath, and particularly the coffin-bone 

 and the heels of the coffin-bone, diminish ; or, after all, as it is more a cliange 

 of form tiian of capacity, as the foot lengthens in proportion as it narrows, 

 so the coffin-bone lengthens, and is as perfectly adjusted as before to the 

 box in which it is placed ; and its little leaves are in as intimate and perfect 

 union with those of the crust as before the hoof had begun to change. On 

 this account it is that many horses with very contracted feet are perfectly 

 sound, and no horse should be rejected merely because he has contracted 

 feet. He should undoubtedly be examined more carefully, and with con- 

 siderable suspicion; but if he has good action, and is otherwise unexcep- 

 tionable, there is no reason that the purchase should be set aside. For our 

 own parts, we had rather have a horse with contracted feet, if he went 

 sound, than another with open, but weak heels. We should expect from 

 him much more work, and we should not be disappointed. 



We must also protest against the opinion that contraction is the neces- 

 sary consequence of shoeing. There can be no doubt that an inflexible 

 iron ring being nailed to the foot prevents, to a very considerable degree, 

 the descent of the sole and the expansion of the heels below ; and it is 

 likewise probable, that when the expansion of the heels is prevented they 

 will often begin to contract. But here, again, nature, cut ofl' from one 

 resource, finds others. If one of the jugular veins be lost, the blood finds 

 its way by other channels, and the horse does not appear to suffer in the 

 slightest degree: and so if the expansion of the heels below is diminished, 

 that of the cartilages above is made more use of. If the coffin-bone has not 

 so much descent downward, it probably acquires one backward, and the 

 functions of the foot are usefully if not perfectly performed. The plain proof 

 of this is, that although there are many horses that are injured or ruined by 

 bad shoeing, there are others, and they ai-e a numerous class, who suffer 

 not at all from good shoeing, and scarcely even from bad. Except it be 

 from accident, how seldom is the farmer's horse lame? and it might even be 

 further asked, how seldom is his foot much contracted ? Some gentlemen 

 who are careful of their horses have driven them twenty years, and princi- 

 pally over the rough pavement of towns, without a day's lameness. Shoeing 

 may be a necessary evil, but it is not the evil which some speculative per- 

 sons have supposed it to be : and the undoubted fact is, that when the 

 horse is put to real hard work, and when the injury produced by shoeing, 

 in destroying the expansibility of the foot, would most of all show itself, the 

 foot lasts a great deal longer than the leg ; nay, horsemen will tell us that 

 one pair of good feet is worth two pair of legs. 



Having thus premised that contraction is not necessarily accompanied by 

 lameness, and that shoeing, with all its evils, does not necessarily injure 

 the foot, we proceed to consider those cases of contraction, too numerous, 

 which are the consequence of our stable management, and which do 

 cripple and ruin the horse. We are not aware of any thing in the appear- 

 ance of the feet which would enable us to decide when contraction is or 



