248 DISEASES OF THE HORSE'S FOOT 



Either the approaching waggon with the added weight its 

 impetus gives it then pushes the animal suddenly away, 

 leaving a part of his foot still fixed to the rails, or the 

 animal himself, feeling securely held, makes a sudden effort 

 to release himself, and draws his foot cleanly out of the 

 imprisoned horny box. 



The author calls to mind a case in which entire removal 

 of the horn of the foot of an ox occurred through the pass- 

 ing over it of t he wheel of a heavily-laden cart. It is there- 

 fore quite conceivable that the same accident might occur 

 to the horse, As a matter of fact, we find one case on 

 record where one-half of the horny box was thus removed.* 



So far as we are able to gather, it is more a result of im- 

 prisonment of the shoe than of the foot. It appears, further, 

 to be always a result of the animal being newly shod, and 

 the clinches firmly secured; so much so that it would be 

 probable, with imperfectly secured clinches, that the animal 

 would draw the hoof from the clinches and the shoe rather 

 than the foot from its horny covering. 



Therefore, as the author of one of the cases we shall 

 afterwards relate suggests, it should be proposed as a pre- 

 ventive that the shoe-nails of animals regularly engaged in 

 work on the metals should not be clinched in the regulation 

 manner, but should have their points merely screwed off, 

 and the nails afterwards rasped level with the wall. 



These cases are particularly interesting as illustrating 

 the rapid manner in which a new hoof is afterwards formed, 

 and the way in which the exposed sensitive laminae take 

 their share in adding to, though not forming the bulk of, 

 the horn of the wall. 



From the cases we are able to record it will be seen that 

 this accident need not be looked upon as fatal, nor the 

 injury itself beyond hope of repair. Dependent largely 

 upon the temperament of the animal, the amount of pain 

 that is caused, and the way in which the animal bears it, 

 recovery may be looked for. Even from the very com- 

 mencement of the accident, however, the pain may be so 



* Veterinary Record, vol. xiii., p. 129. 



