294 THE HORSE. 



is not destructive^to the usefulness of the animal ; his manner of going, 

 and his capability for work, must be our guides. Lameness usually 

 accompanies the beginning of contraction ; it is the invariable attendant 

 on rapid contraction, but it does not always exist Avhen the wiring in is 

 slow or of long standing. 



A. very excellent writer, particularly when treating of the foot of the 

 horse, Mr. Blaine, has given us a long and correct list of the causes of in- 

 jurious contraction, and most of them are, fortunately, under the control of 

 the owner of the animal. He places at the head of them, neglect of paring. 

 The hoof is continually growing, the crust is lengthening, and the sole 

 is thickening. This is a provision for the wear and tear of the foot in an 

 unshod state ; but when the foot is protected by a shoe, and none of the 

 horn can be worn away by coming in contact with the ground, the growth 

 of horn continues ; the hoof gets high, and the sole gets thick ; and in 

 consequence of this, the descent of the sole and the expansion of the heels 

 are prevented, and contraction is the result. The smith might lessen, if 

 not prevent the evil, by carefully thinning the sole and lowering the heels 

 at each shoeing ; but the first of these is a matter of considerable labour, 

 and the second could not be done effectually without being accompanied 

 by the first, and therefore they are both neglected. The prejudice of 

 many owners of horses assists in increasing the evil. They imagine that 

 a great deal of mischief is done by cutting away the foot. Mischief may be 

 the result of injudicious cutting, when the bars are destroyed and the frog 

 is elevated from the ground ; but more evil results fronViHe unyielding;^ 

 thickness of horn impairing the elastic and expansive princlprfe of the foot) 

 If gentlemen would stand by, and see that the sole is properly thinned?^ 

 and the heels lowered, and occasionally, perhaps, give the workman a 

 trifling gratuity for his increased labour, they would be repaid in the 

 comfort and usefulness of the horse. 



Ill-judged economy is another source of this disease. If the shoes of 

 one reterinary surgeon will, with ordinary work, last a little more than 

 three weeks, while another contrives to make his last six, he is supposed 

 to be the better workman and the more honest man, and gets the greater 

 part of the custom; and his shoe is suffered to remain on during the 

 whole time, to the manifest injury of the feet, and that injury materially 

 increased, by the greater thickness and weight of these shoes, and the 

 tightness with which they are fastened on, the nails being necessarily 

 placed nearer to the quarters, and possibly an additional nail or two used 

 in the fastening, and these applied at the quarters. There is no rule 

 which admits of so little exception, — that once in about every three weeks 

 the growth of horn which the natural wear of the foot cannot get rid of, 

 should be pared away — the toe should be shortened — the sole should be 

 thinned, and the heels lowered. Every one who has carefully observed 

 the shape of the horse's foot, must have seen, that in proportion to its 

 height or neglected growth, it contracts and closes upon the foot round 

 the coronet. A low-heeled horse may have other serious defects, of which 

 it will be our duty to speak, but he has seldom a contracted foot. 



Another source of contraction is the want of natural moisture. The 

 unshod colt has seldom contracted feet, nor does the horse at grass acquire 

 them, because the hoof is kept cool and damp by occasional rain and by 

 the regular dew. It is thus rendered supple, and its elasticity is preserved, 

 and the expansive power of the foot is uninjured. The hoof of the stabled 

 horse sometimes has not one drop of moisture on it for several days. The 

 effect of this, in causing the horn to shrink, is sufficiently evident. Hence 



