HORSESHOEING. 



By John W. Adams, A. B., V. M., 



Professor of Surgery and Lecturer mi Shoeing, Veterinary Department, 



University of Penjisylvania. 



Bad and indifferent shoeing so frequently leads to diseases of the 

 feet and in irregularities of gait, which may render a horse unservice- 

 able, that it has been thought appropriate to conclude this book with 

 a brief chapter on the principles involved in shoeing healthy hoofs. 



In unfolding this subject in the limited space at my disposal, I can 

 only hope to give the intelligent horse owner a suflScient number of 

 facts, based on experience and upon the anatomy and physiology of 

 the foot and leg, to enable him to avoid the more serious conse- 

 quences of improper shoeing. 



Let us first examine this vital mechanism, the foot, and learn some- 

 thing of its structure and of the natural movements of its component 

 parts, that we may be prepared to recognize deviations from the 

 normal and to apply the proper corrective. 



GROSS ANATOMY OF THE FOOT. 



(Pis. XXXII-XXXIV.) 



The bones of the foot are four in number, three of which — ^the 

 long pastern, short pastern, and coffin bone, placed end to end — form 

 a continuous straight column passing downward and forward from 

 the fetlock joint to the ground. A small accessory bone, the navic- 

 ular, or " shuttle," bone, lies crosswise in the foot between the wings 

 of the coffin bone and forms a part of the joint surface of the latter. 

 The short pastern projects about 1^ inches above the hoof and ex- 

 tends about an equal distance to it. (See also page 395.) 



The pastern and the coffin bone are held together by strong fibrous 

 cords passing between each two bones and placed at the sides so as 

 not to interfere with the forward and backward movement of the 

 bones. The joints are therefore hinge joints, though imperfect, 

 because, while the chief movements are those of extension and flexion 

 in a single plane, some slight rotation and lateral movements are 

 possible. 



583 



