368 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



adequate protection and indifferent quality of the horn composing the hoof; 

 the coarseness and brittleness of its fibres and looseness of its texture 

 rendering it apt to break away on the slightest provocation, and to afford 

 the shoe a most insecure attachment to the foot. Shelly feet are necessarily 

 weak feet. The crust in these cases is usually thin, the heels are low, the 

 feet flat and spreading, and the soles lack both substance and strength. 

 They are besides hot, dry, and brittle, frequently marked by ridges and 

 furrows, indicating irregularity in secretion, and in consequence of these 

 conditions the crust readily breaks away as the result of "nailing". 



Causes. In the great majority of cases of this kind, heredity is the 

 chief predisposing factor. Some horses at a very early age, and before being 

 stabled, manifest a decided brittleness of hoof-horn, which is seriously 

 aggravated when the forces of domestication come into play. Of these, the 

 undue allowance of highly stimulating food in the absence of adequate work 

 is a common exciting cause; as is also excessive burning in the fitting of 

 shoes, and the impairment of the circulation of the foot resulting from 

 undue paring of the frog and its removal from the ground. 



A shelly condition of the foot sometimes dates from an attack of 

 influenza, fever, or some other febrile ailment, and it invariably follows in 

 a higher or lower degree on all attacks of fever in the feet (laminitis). 



Treatment. Where this condition exists, the most salutary effect may 

 be obtained from a run at grass in a damp meadow and a course of stimulat- 

 ing applications to the coronets. If the weather is dry and the pastures 

 parched, little or no benefit will result from turning out in the daytime. 

 In these circumstances a run in a wet yard by day and in the pasture by 

 night will afford the best results. As an application to the hoof, glycerine, 

 worked up with a little fish -oil and tar, will be found useful while the 

 animal is in the stable. In shoeing, as little heat as possible should be 

 applied to the crust, and the frog should be allowed to grow and come to 

 the ground. Beans, maize, and barley are undesirable additions to the food 

 where a tendency exists to brittleness of the hoofs. 



SEEDY TOE 



The crust or wall of the hoof is composed of two layers : an outer one 

 made up of closely-packed horn fibres, and an inner one composed of horny 

 laminee. In a normal condition these parts blend with each other in close 

 union, forming one solid, continuous whole. 



In the condition known as seedy toe, the horn uniting them under- 

 goes decay and breaks up into a blackish-gray granular-looking debris, 

 which, when removed, leaves behind a space or gap between them. 



