55G 



result is that the toe is depressed ^vhile the heel is uunaturally raised. 

 The relative position of the bony structures within the foot is altered, 

 and the navicular bone, which is not one of the weight-bearing bones, 

 is brought within the angle of incidence of both weight and concus- 

 sion, influences which it was never contemplated it should withstand, 

 and which its structure precludes its sustaining vrithout injury. The 

 bone becomes first bruised and then diseased; the tendon to which 

 it was intended it should act as a pulley, which passes over and is in 

 constant contact with it, before long also becomes implicated, and 

 what is technically known as navicular arthritis is thus engendered 

 and developed. 



SHOEING FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE. 



Thanks to the amount of attention whicli every detail that could 

 possibly tend to the more perfect development of that paragon of 

 horseflesh, the American trotter, has received at the hands of all 

 classes of men, the matter of shoeing for specific purposes has made 

 greater progress in America than in any other country on the face of 

 the globe, and that is a department of the farrier's art which is justly 

 entitled to the highest eulogium that can be bestowed upon it. 



The dift'er.ent styles of shoes which have been devised are marvels 

 of ingenuity, and many of them are admirably effective as remedial 

 agents for faulty gaits and uneven action. Their number is infinite, 

 but as many are applicable only, or in a large measure, to horses used 

 solely for speed purposes, any attempt at classification or detailed 

 description v.ould be out of place in a work of this kind. Wlien intel- 

 ligentl}^ applied a considerable number are, however, potent auxiliaries 

 in mitigating in some cases the results of natural defects of conforma- 

 tion amongst animals whose lot is cast in the humbler if more useful 

 fields of horse enterprise. Among these are the scoop-toed or roller- 

 motion shoe for the fore feet (Plate XXXXII, Fig. 2) and the shoe 

 Plate XXXXII, Fig. 3) for the hind feet, which, while they obviate 

 "forging" or "clicking," a habit hurtful to the horse and singularly 

 annoying to his driver, do not in any way tend to inflict injury on the 

 feet or limbs. The scooped or rolled toe confers a mechanical advan- 

 tage, enabling the animal to get over his toes more promptly and thus 

 remove the front foot from the stroke of the hind extremity, while 

 the lengthening of the branches of the hind shoes, by increasing the 

 ground surface, retards the flexion and extension of the hind limbs. 



The common practice of increasing the weight of the outside web of 

 the hind shoes, to open the action (Plate XXXXII, Fig. 4), is equally 

 harmless and efficacious when not carried to extremes. 



Plate XXXXIII, Fig. 1, is the most effective model of shoe to square 

 and balance the gate of unmade horses, but the period of its use should 

 be strictly limited and the weight of the toe graduallj^ reduced as 

 the desired gait becomes established. An ingenious shoe to prevent 



