SHOEING. 61 



The shoe should never be put on hot ; neither should the foot 

 be shaped to fit the shoe. 



The bar shoe, which is called into use when the foot is 

 affected with corns, sandcrack, &c, should never be worn 

 longer than the disease requires. 



Contraction of the Hoof. — This is a very common defect 

 in horses, and though it sometimes takes place under the best 

 management, and even in colts that have never been shod, it 

 is more commonly the effect of improper treatment. If we 

 cut off the foot of a dead horse, and keep it in a dry but cool 

 situation, so that it may not soon become putrid, it will be 

 found to undergo but very little alteration in its form, though 

 kept a considerable time ; but, if the contents of the hoof are 

 taken out, which may be done by keeping the foot a few days 

 in a hot situation, the hoof will then be found to shrink or 

 contract. This contraction will take place principally at the 

 higher part or coronet, and towards the heels ; the horn being 

 in those parts most flexible, and containing nothing to oppose 

 the contracting power. At the lower part, or bottom of the 

 crust, there may be the same tendency to contraction j but 

 there the horn is much thicker, and the contractible power is 

 strongly opposed by the bottom of the hoof : that is,, the frog, 

 bars, and sole. If the bottom of the foot is removed, the 

 heels will then contract rapidly. What then, it may be asked, 

 is it that prevents contraction of the hoof in the living horse; 

 and by what circumstances is the tendency or disposition to 

 contract produced ? The hoof, in its healthy state, is per- 

 vaded by a fluid, by means of which it is preserved in a 

 flexible and elastic state. If, by any means, a preternatural 

 degree of heat is excited in the foot, this fluid will be too 

 quickly absorbed, and the supply will be diminished ; the 

 horny matter will, therefore, be disposed to contract or shrink ; 

 and the contraction will take place more or less rapidly, 

 according to the degree in which the disposition to contrac- 

 tion exists, and the resistance that is opposed to it. Contrac- 

 tion of the hoof sometimes depends on error in shoeing ; 

 yet the cause is often found in a morbid state of the foot. 



