COxNTRACTION. 469 



the country they have to do their work upon enable them to 

 wear tips constantly, no full-length shod horses' feet will ever 

 bear a comparison with theirs. 



Pressure to the Frog — Coleman's favourite prophylactic 

 against contraction— considering shoeing lo be an indispensable 

 evil, must certainly be regarded as next in importance, as a pre- 

 ventive, to getting quit of the shoe itself, or of part of it. The 

 frog being a body which in action operates in the expansion of 

 the hoof, the removal of it, or even the impairment of it, must 

 necessarily give facility to contraction. It therefore behoves us, 

 in ordinary shoeing, to look well to the preservation of the in- 

 tegrity of this important part of the foot. 



The Cutting away of the Bars in shoeing, through rob- 

 bing the hoof of a couple of stays operating against the closure 

 of its heels, conduces to its contraction. Nature gave the bars 

 as a sort of abutment against either heel of the hoof to oppose its 

 drawing inward, while the frog, placed between the heels, is 

 operating in forcing them asunder; 'consequently, if the bars be 

 removed, the expansive or counter-active powers of the hoof 

 lose an agent they can in many cases ill afford to be de- 

 prived of. 



The contracting Effects of Heat and Drought on 

 the hoof may be guarded against by keeping the horse's stall 

 free from fermentable litter, while the atmosphere of the stable 

 is maintained cool without currents through it. The practice also 

 of stopping horses' feet — or, what I believe to be better, of 

 wearing swabs in the stable — will likewise tend to guard against 

 the contracting effects of these agents. 



We now come to the 



Treatment of contracted Feet. — The first thing to de- 

 termine, whenever a case of contraction is submitted to us for 

 treatment, will be, whether it be one of the pure or mixed 

 description. If the former, the horse therefore not lame, and 

 his feet be submitted to our inspection simply from the appre- 

 hension of his becoming lame, the contraction being on this 

 account desired to be removed, the simple and best means of 

 doing so will be to substitute tips for the horse's ordinary 



