COXTKACTIOy. 41 1 



place of it, prove tliat it is some internal disorganisation, the seatof wliich 

 varies with the portion of the attachment between the hoof and the foot 

 that was principally strained or injured. In every recent case the contracted 

 part wiU be hotter than the rest of the foot, and the sole will, in the • 

 majority of cases, be unnaturally concave. 



Of the treatment of contraction attended with lameness little can be said 

 that will be satisfectory. I^umberless have been the mechanical contri- 

 vances to oppose the progress of contraction, or to force back the foot to 

 its original shape, and many of them have enjoyed considerable but short- 

 Hved reputation, A chp was placed at the inside of each heel, which, 

 resting on the bars, was intended to afford an insiu-mountable obstacle to 

 the farther wiring in of the foot, while the heels of the shoe were bevelled 

 outward in order to give the foot a tendency to expand. The foot, how- 

 ever, continued to contract, until the clip was imbedded in the horn, and 

 worse lameness was produced. 



A shoe jointed at the toe, and with a screw adapted to the heels, was 

 contrived, by which, when softened by ^^oulticing, or iram.ersion in warm 

 water, the quarters were to be irresistibly widened. They were widened 

 by the daily and cautious use of the screw until the foot seemed to assume 

 its natural form, and the inventor began to exult in having discovered a 

 cure for contraction : but no sooner was the common shoe again applied, 

 and the horse had returned to his work, than the heels began to narrow, 

 and the foot became as conti^acted as ever. Common sense ivould have 

 foretold that such must have been the result of tliis expansive process ; 

 for the heels could have been only thus forced asunder at the expense of 

 partial or total separation from the interior portions of the foot with which 

 they were in contact. 



The contracted heel can rarely or never permanently expand, for this 

 plain reason, that although we may have power over the crust, we cannot 

 renew the laminae, or restore the portion of the frog that has been 

 absorbed. 



If the action of the horse is not materially impaixed, it is better to let 

 the contraction alone, be it as great as it will. If the contraction has 

 evidently produced considerable lameness, the owner of the horse will have 

 to calculate between his value if cured, the expense of the cure, and the 

 probabiHty of failure. 



The medical treatment should alone be undertaken by a skilful veteri- 

 nary surgeon, and it will principally consist in abating any inflammation 

 that may exist, by local bleeding and physic, paring the sole to the utmost 

 extent that it will bear ; rasping the quarters as deeply as can be, without 

 their being too much weakened, or the coronary ring (see b, p. 395) 

 injured ; rasping deeply like%vise at the toe, and perhaps scoring at the 

 toe. The horse is afterwards made to stand during the day in wet clay, 

 placed in one of the stalls. He is at night moved into another stall, and 

 his feet bound up thickly in wet clothes ; or he is tui-ned out into wet 

 pasturage, with tips, or, if possible, without them, and his feet are frequently 

 pared out, and the quarters hghtly rasped. In five or six months the horn 

 \\T.ll generally have grown do^vn, when he may be taken up, and shod with 

 shoes unattached by nails on the inner side of the foot, and put to gentle 

 work. The foot will be found very considerably enlarged, and the owner 

 will, perhaps, think that the cure is accomplished. The horse may, pos- 

 sibly, for a time stand very gentle work, and the inner side of the foot 

 being left at hberty, its natui-al expansive process may be resumed : the 

 internal part of the foot, however, has not been healthily filled up witli 

 the expansion of the crust. K that expansion has been effected forwanl 

 on the quarters, the crust will no longer be in contact Avith the lengthened 



