330 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



too shallow or enter the vital parts ; two conditions which require great 

 tact on his part. 



For the pleasure-horse, the Charlier shoe, the English shoe, or the 

 French shoe adjusted after the English manner, with a plate of leather 

 or India-rubber under the sole to protect it, should be employed. 



The flat foot is, indeed, predisposed to contusions of the heels, the 

 sole, and the frog ; it is unsightly from its form and its volume ; its 

 great width causes the horse to interfere ; it takes a bad grip of the 

 pavement. 



Full Foot. This defect is only an exaggeration of the preceding. 

 Here, the sole does not have the least concavity ; it is almost a perfect 

 plane over its whole surface. This foot is also more exposed to con- 

 tusions, and requires a very wide shoe applied with small nails in order 

 to avoid pressing on or pricking the sensitive tissue. 



Pumiced Foot. In the pumiced foot, not only is the sole not 

 a plane surface, but it is bulging inferiorly, and surpasses the inferior 

 border of the wall almost over its entire periphery. The difficulties 

 of properly shoeing such a foot increase proportionally with the degree 

 of the defect. The farrier, in fitting the shoe, if he is not very skilful, 

 alters the axis of the member, deforms the axis of the foot and dimin- 

 ishes the security of its contact with the ground. 



This vice of conformation does not consist in a simple defect of the 

 hoof alone ; it extends also to the third phalanx, whose inferior face is 

 plane or convex. A horse with pumiced feet can doubtless render 

 good service, but as soon as the shoes are removed he cannot perform 

 labor, the plantar surface not being protected from the incessant contu- 

 sions which are produced by the roughnesses of the soil. He should 

 therefore be reserved for the farmer or for soft roads. 



Foot with Bunions. The foot is thus designated (though 

 incorrectly) w r hen there exists upon its inferior face, at the level of the 

 quarters, more or less voluminous eminences (bunions), due to an 

 abnormal conformation of the third phalanx in the corresponding 

 region. This defect most often accompanies full and pumiced feet, 

 and is more frequently observed on the internal side than on the external. 

 It predisposes the sole to bruises from the convexity of which the 

 latter is the seat, and exacts the most accurate and careful shoeing. 

 The web of the shoe, indeed, should be wide and so adjusted in regard 

 to the tumor that it can be protected with tar and oakum maintained 

 by a plate of leather. If the animal lose the shoe on the road he will 

 soon fall lame. 



Feet that are fiat, full, pumiced, and with bunions are peculiar to 



