FAULTY CONFOEMATION 131 



shoe, care must be taken to have the hinges (/,/) far enough 

 back, or the shoe will have a tendency to spring at the 

 heels, and the grips {e, e), which catch on the bars, will have 

 a difficulty in biting. This trouble will be avoided by 

 having the hinges about Ih to 2 inches from the heels. 



After the shoe has been firmly nailed to the foot, the 

 travelling nut b is driven forward on the screw a so as to 

 cause the grips to just catch on the inside of the bars of 

 the foot. According to the inventor, the amount of pressure 

 to be exerted must be learned by experience, and he says : 



' I screw up very gradually until I see the cleft of the 

 frog just beginning to open. I now trot the horse up, and 

 if he goes sound it is certain that the pressure I have 

 exercised will not give rise to trouble. The animal is sent 

 to work to assist in the expansion of the foot. On examining 

 the shoe next day, the grip is found to be quite loose, the 

 foot has enlarged, and the nut is turned once more until 

 the grip on the bars is tightened, the horse being again 

 trotted to ascertain that no injurious pressure is exerted. 



' Every day or two I repeat this process, making measure- 

 ments in all cases before widening the heels. The increase 

 in width of the foot which results is astonishing, $ to f inch 

 during the first week may be safely predicted, and in a 

 month to six weeks it is impossible to recognise in the 

 large healthy frog and wide heels, the shrivelled- up organ 

 of a short time before.'* 



It is pointed out by the writer of the above (and his 

 observations, doubtless, apply to the use of all other 

 expansion shoes in which the bars are gripped and forcibly 

 expanded) that the whole secret of success lies in avoiding 

 injurious pressure by exerting too great an expansion at 

 one operation. After each manipulation of the expanding 

 apparatus the horse should trot sound and the frog remain 

 cool. Should the foot become hot, and lameness super- 

 vene, then tension should at once be relaxed. 



Recorded Cases of the Use of the Shoe. — The inventor of 



* Journal of Comparative PatlioJogy and Thepajyeutics, vol. v., 

 p. 98. 



9—2 



