COKNS. 



221 



are not lowered so much in shoeing as the heels of the fore 

 feet. The fact that corns occur much more frequently on the 

 inner heel, than on the outer, is usually accounted for by the 

 supposition that more weight is thrown on the inner than on the 

 outer side of the foot; but the general custom of shoeing horses 

 very " close " on the inside heel, is, I think, much more to blame. 

 This liability may also be influenced by the more perpendicular 

 position of the wall of the inside of the hoof, and by the fact 

 that the wall of that side of the foot is weaker than that of the 

 outer side. 



CAUSES AND PREVENTION.— The chief cause is a faulty 

 system of shoeing, by which pressure becomes applied to the 



Seat of corn 

 Bar 



Seat of corn 

 Bar 



Fig 73. — Ground surface of horse's foot. 



" seat of corn." The common and pernicious practice of cutting 

 away the bars, undoubtedly, disposes the foot to contract this 

 ailment; for the wall at the heels, when it loses the support 

 afforded by the bars, is apt to bend inwards and to press on 

 the seat of corn. It sometimes happens that, when " preparing " 

 the foot, the smith rasps down the wall at the heels without also 

 reducing the horn over the seat of corn, which then bears the 

 greater part of the pressure, with the natural result of this injuiy. 

 Again, when the heels of the shoe are " spriing,^' that is, when 

 a space is left between them and the horny heels, grit and 

 particles of stone are apt to work in between the web of the 

 shoe and the " seat of corn," and, consequently, to hurt the latter 

 on account of its being constantly hammered upon by the former, 

 whenever the animal moves. 



The principal memner, however, in which horses get corns from 

 shoeing, is undoubtedly the practice adopted with hunters and 

 other saddle-horses, of having the shoes on the fore feet short 



