THE FOOT. 335 



the shoe, sunk into the horn at the toe or the mammae, to supply the 

 insufficiency of the nails. 



The broken hoof is sometimes restored to its normal form by the 

 application of gutta-percha at the points where this is necessary. It 

 is then possible to apply a normal shoe provided with an ordinary 

 number of nail holes equally distant from each other. It is not rare 

 to see an animal whose foot has thus been treated offered for sale ; at 

 times even the nails at the level of the broken parts are simply riveted 

 on the shoe at these places and the irregularities filled with gutta- 

 percha or some other coating. The examination of the hoof can there- 

 fore never be too minute. 



Foot with Weak Heels. — This is a variety of the low-heeled 

 foot, in which the posterior parts are defective by reason of an insuffi- 

 cient consistency of the liorn, and are consequently predisposed to con- 

 tusions of all kinds. The shoe, in such cases, should protect the parts 

 which lack strength, without bearing on them, either by means of a 

 wide-heeled shoe, or, if the frog be well developed, the application of 

 a bar shoe. 



E. — Accidents occasioned by Shoeing. 



The conditions of domestication of the horse make it necessary for 

 those wlio employ him to protect the four hoofs by a shoe, a sort of 

 incomplete metallic sole, destined to insure them against the excessive 

 wear of the horn, which would otherwise soon impair their functional 

 usefulness. 



Shoeing, farriery, is the art which consists in the methodical 

 application to the foot of the shoe or the protecting apparatus t)f 

 which we have spoken. It is, in most instances, not very difficult t© 

 perform this operation, but there are some cases in which, either from 

 the incompetency and unskil fulness of the farrier or the conformation 

 of the foot itself, shoeing causes more or less grave accidents, in regard 

 to which we must confine ourselves to a simple enumeration. 



Pricking. — Pricking is the penetration into the sensitive tissues 

 of a nail which is driven too closely by the farrier. Again, it can be 

 caused by the division of a flawy nail, of which one segment enters 

 the living tissues (the quick), while the other issues on the outer side. 

 Its gravity varies with the length of time the nail remains in the soft 

 parts. If the nail be drawn out again immediately, it is without 

 gravity ; if, however, the direction of the nail be not recognized, it 

 may lead to serious complications. The nail should be removed and 

 not reinserted. 



