152 HORSE-SHOEING. 



hoof continually increases in length and obliquity — a change which 

 causes derangement in the disposition of the weight of the lower par* 

 of the leg and foot, and other inconveniences. 



In speaking of the growth of the horn, it was remarked that in 

 health this took place in a regular manner over the whole surface. It 

 seems rather contradictory, therefore, to assert that the hoof increases 

 in obliquity — appears to grow faster at the toe than the heels — when, 

 if this statement was correct, their increase in length should be always 

 the same. In the unshod hoof this lengthening of the toe is not 



Fig. 



observed; it only occurs in one that has been sho^, and is to be 

 accounted for by the fact that the shoe, not being nailed back so far 

 as the heels, is, every time the foot falls on the ground, pressed 

 against the horn at these parts, and so great is this downward friction 

 or pressure that, after a time, not only is the hoof considerably worn, 

 but the face of the shoe is also deeply channelled at corresponding 

 points. Owing to the shoe being firmly fixed around the toe, there 

 is no play at this part, and hence the apparent inequality in growth 

 between the front and back of the hoof — a circumstance more observ- 

 able in the fore than the hind foot, from the heels of the former 

 being more under the centre of gravity, and so having a greater weight 

 to sustain. 



The pastern and foot form part of a lever that extends fr®m the 

 fetlock to the ground and supports the weight of the body. The 

 strain comes perpendicularly from the shoulder to the fetlock 



