SHOES AND SHOEING lOl 



shod with pads, of which there are various kinds and 

 makes. They are all, more or less, bad for the feet although 

 they diminish concussion and some of the evil effects 

 arising therefrom. Leather soles are frequently used when 

 a horse has a thin sole, a drop sole, corn, or some other 

 abnormal condition of the foot or feet. During frosty 

 weather when the roads are icebound and sHppery, 

 frost cogs or frost nails are necessary. These should be 

 removed when the animal is in the stable. Frost nails 

 are quite temporary, much more so than frost cogs. 

 There are various patterns of these cogs, some having a 

 flat surface, others a pointed one. Again, some of them 

 screw in, others are without screws. Perhaps the screw 

 cog is the best of all, as it is more secure in the shoe than 

 cogs without screws. When a horse " casts a shoe " 

 it is either due to the nails breaking, the chnches giving 

 way, the nail heads wearing off, or the horn below the 

 chnches giving way. It is often a sign of inefficient work. 

 If so, the remedy rests with the owner. Sometimes nails are 

 used which are too large, other times too small, and exam- 

 ination of the ground surface of the shoe after it has been 

 fitted soon discloses this. Unless the nails are driven 

 well home, of the right size and tightly clinched, the 

 shoe will never keep its place properly. Horses with 

 flat sole, with corn or with sand-crack, must have the 

 pressure taken off the part affected, otherwise trouble 

 will arise. Sometimes horses will travel very lame through 

 corn, heace the expediency for the removal of the shoe 

 in every case of lameness. A corn merely represents a 

 bruise, and if it is a recent one, is denoted by a bright red or 

 pink discoloration of the horn on the sole and usually 

 at the inner quarter. If infection by pus organisms 

 occurs along with the bruise, the corn becomes a suppurat- 

 ing one, and sometimes this suppuration undermines the 

 whole of the foot, leading to separation of the homy and 

 sensitive sole — a most serious condition and one neces- 

 sitating immediate professional advice. 



