SHOEING OF DEFECTIVE LIMBS. 99 



for severe work, or else only adapted for shoes of one 

 pattern. 



SHOEING OF DEFECTIVE LIMBS. 



Shoeing is a powerful auxiliary in the hands of a com- 

 petent farrier for remedying the natural defects which are 

 not unfrequently observed in the position of the limbs 

 and feet of horses; while with the scientific veterinary 

 surgeon it is no less a most potent aid in curing or pallia- 

 ting certain maladies or deformities of a special character. 



Perhaps the most frequent defects the farrier has to 

 contend with, are turning out or turning in the toe of 

 the foot ; both of which are not only unsightly, but are 

 productive of more or less injury to the limb from the 

 unequal manner in which some of its parts have then to 

 sustain the weight of the body. 



To rectify the leg or foot when the toe turns outward, 

 the hoof should be levelled as before described, the mar- 

 gin of the wall at the outside toe and back nearly to the 

 quarter being well reduced and rounded. The clip is to 

 be drawn up nearer to the inside than the middle of the 

 toe ; the shoe to be fitted close to the outside and quar- 

 ter, but the inside, from the quarter to the heel,- should be 

 more full than usual. In the course of several shoeings, 

 by this reduction of the wall at the outside of the hoof 

 and the fitting of the shoe, a most noticeable improve- 

 ment will be effected. 



When the toe is turned inward, precisely the reverse 

 treatment must be followed : the inside toe must be re- 

 duced, the clip of the shoe formed nearer the outside toe, 

 and the shoe itself fitted close at the inside toe, but wide 

 at the outside. In both cases the shoes ought to be of 

 the same thickness throughout. 



