IN JURIES k FROM SHOEING. 103 



The worst cases are tliose in wliicli deep seated abscesses 

 occur, as they often terminate in a "qnittor." The 

 farrier should always recognize a tread as possibly dan- 

 gerous and obtain X)rofessional advice. 



It is a common custom to rasp away the horn of the 

 wall immediately beneath any injury of the coronet, but 

 it is a useless proceeding, which weakens the hoof and 

 does no good to the inflamed tissues above or beneath. 



Treads are most common in horses shod with heavy 

 shoes and high calkins — a fact which suggests that a low, 

 square calkin and a shoe fitted not too wide at the heels 

 is a possible preventive. 



"Cutting" or "Brushing." 



By these terms is meant the injury to the inside of 

 the fetlock joint which results from bruising by the 

 opposite foot. Possibly some small proportion of such 

 injuries are traceable to the system of shoeing, to the 

 form of shoe, or to the, action of the horse. They are, 

 with few exceptions, the direct result of want of condi- 

 tion in the horse and are almost confined to young horses, 

 old, weak horses, or animals that have been submitted to 

 some excessively long and tiring journey. The first thing 

 a horse-owner does when his horse " brushes " is to send 

 him to the farrier to have his shoes altered. In half the 

 cases there is nothing wrong with the shoes, and all that 

 is required is a little patience till the horse gains hard 

 condition. At the commencement of a coaching season, 

 half the horses " cut " their fetlocks, no matter how they 

 are shod. At the end of the season, none of them touch 

 the opposite joint, with perhaps a few exceptions afflicted 

 with defective formation of limb, or constitutions that 

 baffle all attempts at getting hard condition. The same 

 thing is seen in cab and omnibus stock. All the new 

 horses "cut" their legs for a few weeks. The old ones^ 

 with a few exceptions, work in any form of shoe, but 

 never touch their joints. They "cut" when they are 

 out of condition — when their limbs soon tire; but they 

 never "cut" when they are in condition — when they 

 have firm control of the action of their limbs. There are. 



