XVIIl] 



SHOEING AND CARE OF THE FEET 



217 



being driven too far inwards, i.e. towards the 

 centre of the foot. If the instructions laid 

 down in Sec. 844 are carried out, there is little 

 danger of pricking a horse. Some walls are 

 very thin, and special care must be taken. A 

 study of P. 139 will show that the thickness 

 of horn is never very great, necessitating every 

 nail being driven in with much care. Many a 

 horse has been totally ruined by being pricked. 

 When a horse is pricked he will generally 

 flinch ; the nail must be at once withdrawn. 

 There will be a little blood on the end of the 

 nail. The horn must be pared away until the 

 seat of the injury is reached, and a drop or two 

 of pure carbolic acid, or 50 per cent, solution, 

 must be syringed, by means of a hypodermic 

 needle, right into the bottom of the wound. A 

 tuft of aseptic cottonwool can be plugged in to 

 keep dirt from getting in. The wound must be 

 re-dressed every four hours. Blood poisoning, 

 lockjaw, etc., may very easily follow a neglected 

 prick. 



856. If the nail has been in a few hours, 

 or the district is one in which lockjaw (tetanus) 

 is common, the horse should be treated at once 

 with anti-tetanus serum, and again the following 

 day. (See Sec. 620.) Whenever a nail is drawn 

 put of a foot, either one that has been driven 

 in the wrong place by the farrier or one that has 

 been picked up accidentally by the horse, and 

 it is seen that the nail has been in a considerable 

 distance, the foot must be pared away to the 

 sensitive part. A probe must then be used to 

 reach the bottom of the hole, or a hypodermic 

 needle may be used for this. When the hole is 

 found, the carbolic must be injected as described 

 above. This must be done with force right to 

 the bottom of the hole. This will cauterise the 

 surface of the wound and destroy all septic 

 matter. The horse will give a jump as the car- 

 bolic touches the bottom of the wound, which is 

 a sure test that the needle is in the right place. 

 The depth that the needle is to be inserted must 

 be compared with the length of the nail that 

 was drawn out. Many cases of tetanus have 

 resulted from farriers cutting a bit of the sole 

 or frog away and plugging the hole up with tar, 

 thus closing in all germs. 



If the nail has been in long enough to allow 

 the foot to swell, after treating as above, it will 

 be necessary to apply a hot antiseptic poultice at 

 once, and to repeat it in a couple of hours, in 

 order to draw out the poison. Upon the first 

 signs of swelling about the fetlock, the anti- 

 tetanus serum must be used, and repeated the 

 following day, as described above. 



Presses or Binds. These are caused by the 

 nail being driven in very near to the sensitive 

 wall, but not actually into it. The result is a 

 bruise of the sensitive laminae. The horse will 

 show it either by a flinch or else by going lame 

 after shoeing. The nails must be withdrawn 



2C 



one by one to ascertain which is causing the 

 trouble. If there is no blood on the nail points, 

 it is clear that there is not a prick. On removal 

 of the nail that presses, the trouble will gener- 

 ally right itself of its own accord ; if very bad, 

 the horse should not be worked for a few days. 

 As the farrier withdraws the nail that causes 

 the trouble, the horse will generally flinch 

 slightly, so it is easy, as a rule, to discover which 

 nail it is. 



857. Forge Tools. The anvil, which is 

 familiar to everyone, is the most important tool 

 for fitting or making shoes. 



The fire tongs are used to hold the shoe in 

 the fire, and have long handles ; the shoe tongs 

 are used to hold the shoe at the anvil while it 

 is being shaped. 



The turning hammer, weight about 4 lb., has 

 one flat and one convex face, and is used on the 

 anvil. The sledge hammer, weight 9 lb., is used 

 by an assistant, the striker, to weld metal and 

 to cut or mould the bar in making shoes. 



The concave tool, or swedge, and other shap- 

 ing tools are held in place by the farrier while 

 the striker hammers the bar of iron into the 

 mould. 



The fuller is a blunt chisel, with a wooden 

 handle, resembling a hammer, that is hammered 

 into the web by the striker as the farrier draws 

 it around the web. 



The pritchel, or counter-sinker, is used to 

 punch the holes for the heads to fit in accurately. 

 The stamp is used to punch the holes right 

 through the web. The pritchel and punch must 

 be the exact shape of the nails used bo ensure 

 accurately fitting nails. 



858. Shoeing Tools. The shoeing hammer 

 has a small head and bent claws, and is used 

 for driving and clenching nails. 



The buffer is made of steel, about 5| in. long, 

 has a point at one end to punch out broken 

 nails, and a chisel at the other for cutting off 

 clenches. Pincers are used for drawing nails, 

 and also as a buffer held against the heads while 

 the clenches are hammered down tight. 



The drawing knife has a curved blade, and 

 is used to pare the wall and to remove ragged 

 bits of horn. It must be of best steel and kept 

 very sharp. The rasp has one half on one side 

 file cut and the remainder coarse cut. It should 

 be 16 in. long and of the best steel. 



859. Faulty Feet. Flat feet are large, have 

 very sloping walls in front, low heels, and flat 

 and generally thin soles. 



Narrow feet are the opposite : small, have 

 upright walls and high heels. Plat feet are pre- 

 ferable to narrow feet, as they generally have 

 large frogs, whilst narrow feet generally have 

 very small frogs. Natural flat feet must not be 

 confounded with feet that have been incorrectly 

 pared by the farrier, as described in Sees. 835 

 and 854. 



