Diseases of the Foot. 461 



each other and from the tough elastic horn above by lay- 

 ers of powdery horn, which serve along with the plates tc 

 protect from bruises and check evaporation. In their 

 healthy state, therefore, sole and frog are as well pro- 

 tected against evaporation, drying and shrinking as is the 

 waU. But the case is altered when, with buttress oi 

 drawing-knife, these native protectors are removed and 

 the tough elastic horn is laid bare. Then each homy 

 tube exhales its moisture, the horn dries and shrinks, 

 drawing inward the lower borders of the hoof-wall and 

 pressiug upward, often painfully, on the quick. Nor can 

 the sole any longer bear contact with hard bodies, but 

 bruises and injuries are the constant result. 



The injury in both cases may be lessened somewhat by 

 the use of suitable hoof ointments but the process may be 

 Ukened to that of supplying a man with a wooden leg 

 after you have ruthlessly cut off his own sound one. The 

 substitute may permit of the limb being used but the dif- 

 ference, in utility, safety and durabihty, is almost infinite. 



Among other injuries by shoeing may be mentioned un- 

 equal strain thrown on different parts of the hoof for want 

 of a uniform bearing on the shoe ; bmises of the sole 

 from the shoe being improperly fitted, or left on too long 

 imtU it has grown out over the shoe, or been drawn for- 

 ward by the excessive growth at the toe until the heel 

 settles on the sole between the wall and the bars ; misdi- 

 rection of the bones and joints by leaving one side of the 

 hoof much higher than the other, or by leaving the toe or 

 heel unnaturally long or short; pricks and biuding by 

 naUs, etc., etc. Long-continued compulsory idleness in a 

 stall, exposure to prolonged moisture, with intervals of 

 drying, and continued contact with decomposing liquids, 

 and to the irritating ammoniacal fumes of dung and urine 

 are further destructive conditions for the horn. 



Maxims for Shoeing. The proper care, preparation and 

 proservation of the foot is of far more consequence than 

 the form of the shoe. The hoof must be preserved from 



