132 CONTRACTION OF THE FEET. 



hold, and not endangering driving into the quick. There 

 should be no effort to cut down the hoof in any away that 

 would weaken it, or destroy its natural appearance and 

 bearing 



(No. 15.) (No.lG.) 



Nails driven too straight. How to nail the Shoe. 



CONTRACTION OF THE FEET. 



If we examine the foot in its natural, healthy state, it will 

 be found almost round, and very elastic at the heel. The 

 frog broad, plump, and of a soft, yielding character. The 

 commissures open and well defined, and the sole concave. 

 The outside of the crust, from the heel to the toe, increased 

 from a slight bevel to an angle of about forty-five degrees. 

 In a state of contraction the heels are narrow and high, the 

 commissures closed and the frog small, and from bad shoe- 

 ing a marked change in size and form. Corns, or bruising 

 of the sole at the heels, or any difficulty causing lameness, 

 is induced by inflammation. Now, any cause by which the 

 sensible sole or muscular structure uniting the coffin-bone to 

 the wall of the hoof is bruised and inflamed, leads to either 

 decomposition and the formation of matter, thickening of 

 cartilage, or growth of bony formation. 



The most common cause of inflammation, producing 

 change of structure and lameness, is contraction. It is 

 evident that the more horn is grown the wider and longer 

 the foot becomes, and the more cut away the narrower and 

 shorter it is made. If a shoe be fitted accurately to a foot 

 after being trimmed and prepared carefully, it would be 

 found in a few weeks to be much too short and narrow or 

 too small for the same foot. 



The foot is continually growing and losing its original 



