400 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



Young animals, however well set up, when weak or fatigued by over- 

 exertion, frequently forge until an improved condition is established. Loose 

 and careless driving encourages any tendency to it that may exist from the 

 causes referred to above. 



Forging is sometimes determined by defective shoeing. The hind -feet 

 are not only allowed to grow unduly long, but the shoes are fitted full and 

 given too much prominence at the toes. Where these conditions are allowed 

 to exist behind, they are almost invariably present in front as well. It 

 results from this that the long fore-feet do not clear the ground before 

 being overtaken and struck by the long hind ones. 



The feet in these cases may not appear to be of undue length, but in 

 relation to the peculiar long-striding action of the animal they often prove 

 to be so. 



To guard against forging, it is important that horses be driven well up 

 to the bit at a moderate pace, well fed, and not overworked. The fore shoe 

 should be narrow and well seated out on the ground surface, and the foot 

 restricted in length. 



The hind -foot should be shortened at the toe, and the shoe fitted well 

 under the crust, so that the latter is somewhat in advance of the former. It 

 is also desirable that the toe of the shoe should be nicely rounded off, the 

 heel allowed to take its natural bearing instead of being raised by calkins. 



SPEEDY CUTTING 



When horses strike the inner side of the knee, or parts immediately 

 below or above it, with the foot of the opposite leg, they are said to 

 " speedy cut ". 



Causes. All causes of this accident are mainly connected with con- 

 formation and action. Thus horses with narrow chests, whose legs are 

 close together, are particularly liable to it, and especially so if the toes 

 should happen to turn out, or the legs be set too far back. The tendency 

 to speedy cut is considerably aggravated by weakness and fatigue, hence 

 the mishap occurs most frequently in ill-conditioned animals, or in those 

 better conditioned at the end of a journey, when tired and incapable of 

 exercising full or complete control of the limbs. 



The liability to this mishap is materially increased by the mode of 

 action, but it does not, as has been said by some, arise entirely in con- 

 sequence of this being " high ". The worst speedy cutter the writer ever 

 saw was an animal whose action was quite the reverse of this. 



Any horse may "speedy ctt" by an accidental movement in galloping 

 or in draught, but the habitual "speedy cutter" almost invariably presents 



