GROWTH OF THE HOOF. 571 



in eleven to thirteen months, at the side wall in six to eight months, 

 and at the heels in three to five months. We can thus estimate with 

 tolerable accuracy the time required for the disappearance of such 

 defects in the hoof as cracks, clefts, etc. 



Irregular growth is not infrequent. The almost invariable cause 

 of this is an imjDroper distribution of the body weight over the hoof — 

 that is, an unbalanced foot. Colts running in soft pasture or confined 

 for long periods in the stable are frequently allowed to grow hoofs of 

 excessive length. The long toe becomes " dished " — that is, concave 

 from the coronet to the ground — the long quarters curl forward and 

 inward and often completely cover the frog and lead to contraction of 

 the heels, or the whole hoof bends outward or inward, and a crooked 

 foot, or, even worse, a crooked leg, is the result if the long hoof be 

 allowed to exert its powerful and abnormally directed leverage for 

 but a few months upon young plastic bones and tender and lax articu- 

 lar ligaments. All colts are not foaled with straight legs, but failure 

 to regulate the length and bearing of the hoof may make a straight 

 leg crooked and a crooked leg worse, just as intelligent care during 

 the growing period can greatly improve a congenitally crooked limb. 

 If breeders were more generally cognizant of the power of overgrown 

 and unbalanced hoofs to divert the lower bones of young legs from 

 their proper direction, and, therefore, to cause them to be moved 

 improperly, with loss of speed and often with injury to the limbs, we 

 might hope to see fewer knock-kneed, bow-legged, " splay-footed," 

 " pigeon-toed," cow-hocked, interfering, and paddling horses. 



If in shortening the hoof one side wall is, from ignorance, left too 

 long or cut down too low with relation to the other, the foot will be 

 unbalanced, and in traveling the long section will touch the ground 

 first and will continue to do so till it has been reduced to its proper 

 level (length) by the increased wear which will take place at this 

 point. While this occurs rapidly in unshod hoofs, the shoe prevents 

 wear of the hoof, though it is itself more rapidly worn away beneath 

 the high (long) side than elsewhere, so that by the time the shoe is 

 worn out the tread of the shoe may be flat. If this mistake be re- 

 peated from month to month, the part of the wall left too high will 

 grow more rapidly than the low side whose pododerm is relatively 

 anemic as a result of the greater weight falling into this half of the 

 hoof, and the ultimate result will be a " wry," or crooked foot. 



THE CARE OF UNSHOD HOOFS. 



The colt should have abundant exercise on dry ground. The hoofs 

 will then wear gradually, and it will only be necessary from time to 

 time to regulate any uneven wear with the rasp and to round off the 

 sharp edge about the toe in order to prevent breaking away of the 

 wall. 



