THE HORSE'S FOOT: SHOEING, ETC. 109 



heeled fore-feet and small or wasted frogs. Anti-slipping pads 

 are also many, and one of them in common use is a sort of bag of 

 indiarubber, in the shape of the foot, with a corrugated ground 

 surface, and fixed within the inner rims of the shoe. The frog 

 bar pad is another indiarubber pad, fixed on to a stout piece of 

 leather, the rubber bar of which runs across the back part of the foot 

 and covers both heels and frog, and is nailed to the foot above a short 

 shoe. This is one of the best forms of pads, for, besides preventing 

 slipping, it is of great service in the case of corns, weak heels, narrow 

 or contracted quarters, navicular disease, and chronic laminitic feet. 



186. For further particulars respecting the horse's foot and shoe- 

 ing, Mr. William Hunting's 'Art of Horse-Shoeing' (third edition) 

 is recommended. 



INJURIES TO, AND DISEASES OF, THE FOOT OF 



THE HORSE. 



187. The foot of the horse is at all times very liable to injury and 

 disease, and in all cases of lameness the foot should be examined 

 to make sure that all is right there, even though the leg be broken. 

 The diseases or injuries to which the feet of horses are most subject 

 are pricks, corns, quittor, side-bones, sandcrack, seedy toe, false quarter, 

 thrash, canker, treads, overreaches, groggy lameness, and laminitis. 



188. A Prick from Shoeing, or Otherwise. — This is the most 

 common injury to the foot. In shoeing, if a nail should unfortu- 

 nately be driven into the sensitive part of the foot, the owner ought 

 at once to be told of the misfortune. At the same time the shoe 

 must be removed, and the foot put into an antiseptic bran-poultice, 

 made with cold water and a little carbolic acid, and kept constantly 

 wet for a few days, when the part generally heals without any bad 

 effect. But as a rule the nail is withdrawn, and no mention is made 

 of the matter, with the result that the horse is put to work and, 

 in the course of two or three days, becomes lame. The injury may 

 be detected by tapping the part with a hammer, or by removing the 

 shoe and pressing the foot with a pair of pincers, the animal 

 flinching when the injured part is touched. The sole must then be 



