322 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 



dom discovers the seat of the lameness (unless it be after matter 

 has been formed, when the cause is too manifest to escape his 

 notice), but attributes it to a strain of the shoulder, or a hit of a 

 icrench in the fetlock joint. This is more likely to be the case 

 when the smith that shod the horse is applied to ; but, if an- 

 other is consulted, he takes care to search very diligently for any 

 errors his rival may have committed ; and, though he find no- 

 thino- to account for the lameness, will often affirm that the horse 

 has been pricked; he then stops up the foot Avith some greasy 

 substance, and trusts to nature and rest for making good his 

 assertion ; for, should the horse recover, he depends on its being 

 attributed to his superior skill and penetration, 



JNIuch mischief, however, is often done by their mode of in- 

 vestigation ; for they cut away the horn so freely, between the 

 bottom of the crust and the sole, or where the nails are placed, 

 that scarcely any room is left for nailing on a shoe ; and it is, 

 perhaps, a considerable time before the horn can be reproduced 

 which has been unnecessarily removed. When a horse has been 

 pricked in shoeing, and the lameness does not go off spontane- 

 ously, it must, in a short time, be discovered. The lameness 

 gradually increases ; and, when matter is formed, it is very 

 easily detected, by pressing moderately with pincers, or by a 

 slight blow on the part : or, should it escape observation at this 

 period, it cannot fail of being noticed when it breaks out at the 

 coronet. The part of the fore foot most commonly wounded is 

 the inside quarter, from the horn being thinner in that part of 

 the foot than any other ; but, in the hind foot, the quarters are 

 generally thicker ; and here we most commonly find the wound 

 nearer the toe. When it is suspected that a horse has been 

 wounded or pricked in shoeing, the first thing to be done is to 

 strike on the foot gently with a hammer all around the hoof 

 where the nails are clenched, and on the shoe also. The 

 wounded part may thus be generally discovered by the horse 

 suddenly withdrawing his foot when it is struck. The shoe is 

 then to be taken off and the wounded part opened with a 

 drawing-knife, and treated as we have before described ; but 

 should no tenderness be observed in the foot, it would still be 

 advisable to take off the shoe, and apply a poultice to the foot ; 

 that is, supposing every other part of the limb to have been 

 carefully examined also, and no cause for the lameness dis- 

 covered. If the lameness should arise from a Avound in the foot, 

 it will gradually get worse ; and, when matter has been formed, 

 the tenderness is so considerable, that it can scarcely fail of being 

 detected. Sometimes the horny sole, by which the matter is 

 confined, is of considerable thickness ; and it sometimes ha])pens 

 tliat the smith, having pai*ed away as much of the horn as he 

 thinks can be done with safety, is afraid to go any further. But, 



