HORSESHOEING. 



163 



Treatment. — First of all, the discovered causes should be 

 removed, or, if this is not possible, as is frequently the case, 

 they should be ameliorated. Very often the lameness may be 

 removed by proper 'shoeing, a change in the animal's work, and 

 better care of the hoof. When there is intense inflammation 

 within the foot, the shoe should be removed for a few days. 

 When the inflammation is moderate and confined to a small 

 area, it is usually sufticient to alter the shoeing by regulating 

 unnatural relations of height in the different parts of the wall, 

 and by removing all superfluous horn from the wall and sole 

 (to a less degree from the frog), partly for the purpose of 

 rendering the horn capsule more yielding, and partly to make 

 the poultices which are used more effective. Tlie shoe is then 

 to be so applied that the diseased region mil be relieved of the 

 tody-weight, and will remain free from all pressure from the 

 shoe. This can be done partly by making the underlying 

 branch of the shoe somewhat wider and longer than the other, 

 and partly by cutting down the bearing-edge of the wall where 

 this is possible without weakening 

 it too much, other\\dse by concav- 

 ing or beating Ao\xn the upper 

 surface of the shoe. By reason of 

 the fact that the posterior half 

 of the hoof is the seat of most 

 diseases of the hoof, it is to be 

 recommended that the nail-holes 

 in shoes used in these diseases be 

 placed as far as possible in the 

 anterior half of the shoe, and in 

 jsome special cases distributed 

 evenly around the toe. Among 

 shoes suitable for diseased hoofs 

 the bar-shoe (Fig. 185) holds the first place, because it 

 renders superfluous many other shoes specially designed 

 for various diseases of the hoof. It is made like an ordinary 



Fig. 185. 



Bar-shoe for right foot. 



