100 THE AKT OF HORSE-SIIOEIXG. 



or are partially torn off, the horse may tread on the clip, 

 and if it be high and sharp, very dangerous wounds 

 result. 



From the Shoe, injury results from any uneven 

 pressure, especially when the horny covering of the foot 

 is weak and thin. The horn becomes broken and split, 

 and the bearing for a shoe is more or less spoiled. Flat 

 feet are liable to be bruised by the pressure of the inner 

 circumference of the shoe at the toe. Lameness from 

 this cause is easily detected by removing the shoe and 

 testing the hoof with the pincers. If attended to at once, 

 and the bearing of the shoe removed from the part little 

 injury results. If neglected, inflammatory changes in 

 the sensitive parts are sure to arise. 



Corns in horses are due to bruising of the angle of 

 the sole by the heel of the shoe. A wide open foot with 

 low heels is most likely to suffer, but any foot may be 

 injured. The most common seat of injury is the inner 

 heel of a fore-foot. Even a properly fitted shoe may 

 cause a corn if retained too long upon a foot, as then, 

 owing to the growth of the hoof, its extremity is carried 

 forward from beneath the wall so as to press upon the 

 sole. A short shoe, fitted too close on the inside, is the 

 most common cause of corn. To guard against the g^hoe 

 being trodden on by the opposite foot, the inside is 

 generally fitted close, and to guard against being trodden 

 on by the hind foot it is often fitted short. Thus to pre- 

 vent accidents of one kind methods are adopted which, 

 being a little overdone, lead to injury of another. A not 

 ■Qiicommon error in the preparation of the foot for 

 shoeing may also lead to the production of the so-called 

 corn. If the wall on the inside heel be lowered more 

 than it should be, the horn of the sole is left higher than 

 the wall, and then a level shoe presses unevenlj^upon tlie 

 liighei' part. 



A corn, be it remembered, is not a tumor or a growth, 

 it is merely a bruise of the sensitive foot under the liorn 

 of the sole. It shows itself by staining the horn rod, just 

 as a bruise od. tlie human body shows a staining of the 



