DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 369 



detached, the plates being separated from each other and 

 Irom the tough elastic horn above by layers of powdery horn, 

 which serve along with the plates to protect from bruises and 

 check evaporation. In their healthy state, therefore, sole and 

 frog are as well protected against evaporation, drying and 

 shrinking, as is the wall. But the case is altered when, with 

 buttress or drawing-knife, these native protectors are removed 

 and the tough elastic horn is laid bare. Then each horny 

 tube exhales its moisture, the horn dries and shrinks, drawing 

 inward the lower borders of the hoof-wall and pressing upward, 

 often painfully, on the quick. Nor can the sole any longer 

 bear contact with hard bodies, but bruises and injuries are the 

 constant result. 



The injury in both cases may be lessened somewhat by the 

 »»se of suitable hoof.ointments, but the process may be likened to 

 that of supplying a man with a wooden leg after you have ruth- 

 lessly cut off his own sound one. The substitute may permit 01 

 the nmb being used, but the difference, in utility, safety, and 

 durability, is almost infinite. 



Among other injuries by shoeing may be mentioned unequal 

 strain thrown on different parts of the hoof for want of a uniform 

 bearing on the shoe ; bruises of the sole from the shoe being 

 improperly fitted, or left on too long until it has grown out 

 over the shoe, or been drawn forward by the excessive growth 

 at the toe until the heel settles on the sole between the wall 

 and the bars ; misdirection of the bones and joints by leaving 

 one side of the hoof much higher than the other, or by leaving 

 the toe or heel unnaturally long or short ; pricks and binding 

 oy nails, etc., etc. Long-continued compulsory idleness in a 

 stall, exposure to prolonged moisture, with intervals of drying, 

 and continued contact with decomposing liquids»,and to the 

 irritating ammoniacal fumes of dung and urine are further de- 

 structive conditions for the horn. 



Maxims for Shoeing. — The proper caie, i)reparation, and 



2 A 



