FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL HOOF DISEASES. 151 



CONTRACTION IN THE REGION OF THE QUARTERS. 



A keen eye and a thorough knowledge of the various forms 

 of the hoof are essential to diagnose contraction in its 

 earliest stages. Upon inspection of the contracted hoof, in 

 its various stages, one will see that it gradually becomes 

 longer and narrower and that the heels approach each other 

 more and more. The sole is more concave, the frog 

 atrophied and often tli rushy, and the ordinarily shallow 

 middle lacuna is transformed into a deep and narrow cleft. 



Fig. 2£ 

 Complete bilateral contraction. 



The bars, instead of running from the heels to the point of 

 the frog in a straight line, lie close to it, often forming an 

 arch with its convexity toward the wall. In contraction of 

 one quarter only (see fig. 30) the angle formed by the bar 

 and the corresponding portion of the wall is of great diag- 

 nostic value. If that angle and the branch of the frog next 

 to it are smaller than the opposite ones, and the correspond- 

 ing heel extends further up than the other heel, one-sided 

 contraction can safel}^ be diagnosed. In these cases the 

 white line is also of some assistance, as it is narrower than 

 the one on the other side, the normal one. Ossification of 

 the lateral cartilage of the contracted side, sandcracks, 



