HORSESHOEING. 



187 



Fig. 206. 



Furthermore, since contraction is the parent of nearly all dis- 

 eases of the hoof (corns, quarter-cracks, bar-cracks, thrush of 

 the frog) , we should use the greatest care to prevent it by dress- 

 ing the hoof as described on pages 98 to 103, using flat shoes 

 with a horizontal bearing-surface for the quarters, giving 

 abundant exercise, preventing drying out of the horn, and 

 allowing the animal to go barefoot when- 

 ever possible. Where the contraction is 

 hut slight the foregoing rules will be 

 found sufficient. 



In very pronounced contraction, 

 where the hoof is not acute-angled, an 

 expansive shoe with clips raised at the 

 ends of the branches to press against the 

 buttresses may prove very advantageous ; 

 but under no conditions should violence 

 be used in expanding the heels with the 

 expanding-screw. This is an act of ex- 

 treme delicacy, and should be performed 

 only by experienced veterinarians. 



In very pronounced contraction of 

 one or both quarters of hoofs of every 

 degree of obliquity we may obtain a con- 

 tinuous expansive action by the use of 

 one of the numerous V-shaped springs, 

 of which the Chadwich spring is the best 

 (Fig. 207 and 208). After levelling th^°u:niro^t^off^a^'S 

 the wall and thinning the branches of the ^^'t:'^lX:^^i^ 

 sole, the points of the spring are set s^°^: ^' ^'""^'^ ^^^ expanding 



I ^ "^ ^ the Defay's shoe. 



against the buttresses, the apex of the 



spring moved to and fro till the points have bored well into 

 the horn, when the apex is laid against the sole at the toe, the 

 sole filled with tar and oakum and covered by a leather sole, 

 and a bar-shoe applied. If the contraction be less pronounced, 

 or if the frog be much shrunken we may place a Chadwick 



