174 The Hokse Industry in New York State 



are high, the fetlock joint is thrown forward or knuckles, and the 

 weight of the animal is received on the toes. Many mules are 

 club footed, especially behind, where it seems to cause little or 

 no inconvenience. As a rule special shoeing is the only measure of 

 relief that can be adopted. The toe should not be pared, but the 

 heels should be lowered as much as possible. The shoe is put 

 on with a long protecting toe-piece slightly turned up, while the 

 heels of the shoe are made thin. 



Crooked feet is that condition in which one side of the wall is 

 higher than the other. If the inside wall is the higher, the 

 ankle is thrown outward so that the fetlock joints are abnormally 

 wide apart and the toes close together. Animals with this de- 

 formity are pigeon toed and are prone to interfere, the inside 

 toe striking the opposite fetlock. If but one foot is affected, the 

 other being perfect, the liability to interfere is still greater for 

 the reason that the fetlock of the perfect leg is more near the 

 center plane. 



When the outside heel is the higher the ankle is thrown in and 

 the toe turns out. Horses with such feet interfere with the heel. 

 If but one foot is so affected the liability to interfere is less than 

 where both feet are affected, for the reason that the ankle of the 

 perfect leg is not so near the center line. Such animals are 

 especially liable to stumbling and to lameness from injury to the 

 ligaments of the fetlock joints. The deformity is to be over- 

 come by such shoeing as will equalize the disparity in length of 

 walls, and by proper boots to protect the fetlock from interfering. 



INTRODUCTION OF SHOEING 



The period when the shoe began to be nailed to the foot of the 

 horse is uncertain, but it is supposed that Hannibal used artificial 

 coverings for the horses' feet in crossing the Alps with 12,000 

 horses and 90,000 men on foot 200 years before the birth of Christ. 

 It is also believed that William the Norman was first to introduce 

 it in England, and it is stated that he used iron for that purpose. 

 In some countries other material was used, mostly rawhide. 



It is sometimes argued that if you do not begin to shoe horses 

 when they are colts you will not need to shoe them at all. That 

 would obtain in some sections of our country, but I assure vou it 



