186 



HORSESHOEING. 



Fig. 205. 



^Yhen contraction affects only one quarter, it is called wii- 

 lateral contraction, or abnormal wryness (Fig. 211). 



The buttresses are usually very much prolonged and press 

 upon the frog and cause it to shrink. The bars no longer run in 

 the natural straight direction from the point of the frog back- 

 ward and outward, but describe a circle passing outward, back- 

 ward, and inward. 



Contraction affects front feet, especially those of the acute- 

 angled form, more often than hind 

 feet. In order to determine whether 

 or not a hoof is too narrow, we 

 should always examine the frog 

 and its lateral lacunse. If the frog 

 is small and narrow, and the lateral 

 lacimse very narrow and deep, there 

 can be no doubt but that the hoof is 

 too narrow (contracted). 



The causes, aside from too little 

 exercise, are chiefly errors in shoe- 

 ing, such as weakening the posterior 

 half of the hoof, leaving too long a 

 toe, either neglecting to remove the 



A fore-hoof with bilateral contrac- SpurS of hom wllich grOW frOm the 

 tion of the quarters: a, spur of horn -i ,. i j.1, j? ™ 



prolonged from the buttress, which buttresscs and press upou the ±rog, 

 L°cunrorthe^fror' ^' ""^""^ "^^'^'^'^ ^^ removing them incompletely, and 

 using shoes whose branches are 

 either too wide apart or are inclined do^vnward and inward, 

 so that imder the weight of the body the heels are squeezed 

 together and contraction is favored. 



Prevention and Treatment. — First, it should be borne in 

 mind that whatever exercises moderate pressure upon the sole, 

 frog, and bars tends to expand the hoof. The action and value 

 of the various shoes, frog-, and sole-pads, are measured by this 

 rule. For this reason a shoe with heel-calks is never advisable 

 if an open flat shoe without other means of relief can be used. 



