FAULTY COxN FORMATION 137 



are numerous others, many of which are composed of three- 

 hinged portions, the two hindermost of which are gradually 

 separated by a toothed arrangement of their inner margins 

 and a travelling bar, the disadvantage of which is that it is 

 liable to work loose. In the majority of this class of shoe 

 the hinges are placed far forward, one on each side of the 

 toe. They there become exposed to excessive wear. In 

 fact, against the bulk of this form of shoe it may be urged 

 that they cannot be worn by the animal at work, that they 

 are expensive, difficult to make, and easily put out of 

 order. 



3. By Operatiuns on the Horn of the Wall. 



(a) Thinning the Wall in the Region of the Quarters. — This 

 is best done by means of an ordinary farrier's rasp. The 

 thinning should lessen gradually from the heel for 2J to 

 3 inches in a forward direction. That portion of the wall 

 next to the coronary border, about ^ inch in breadth, should 

 not be touched. At this point the thinning should commence, 

 should be at its greatest, and lessen gradually downwards 

 until at the inferior margin of the wall the normal thickness 

 of horn is left. The animal is then shod with a bar shoe 

 and the hoof bound with a bandage soaked in a mixture of 

 tar and grease, in order to keep the thinned portion of the 

 wall from cracking. In this condition the animal may 

 remain at light labour. 



When possible, however, it is better to combine the 

 thinning process thus described with turning out to grass. 

 In this case the ordinary shoe is first removed, and the 

 foot poulticed for twenty-four hours to render the horn soft. 

 The foot is then prepared by slightly lowering the heels — 

 leaving the frog untouched — and thinning the quarters in 

 exactly the manner described above. 



After this is done, the animal is shod with an ordinary 

 tip, a sharp cantharides blister applied to the coronet, and 

 then turned out in a damp pasture. In this case the object 

 of the tip is to throw the weight on to the heels and 

 quarters. The thinned horn yields to the pressure thus 



