HORSESHOEING. 589 



flowing into the pododerm, favor the rapid growth of horn of good 

 quality; while lack of exercise, dryness of the horn, and excessive 

 length of the hoof hinder growth. 



The average rate of growth is about one-third of an inch a month. 

 Hind hoofs grow faster than fore hoofs and unshod ones faster than 

 shod ones. The time required for the horn to grow from the coronet 

 to the ground, though influenced to a slight degree by the precited 

 conditions, varies in proportion to the distance of the coronet from 

 the ground. At the toe, depending on its height, the horn grows 

 down in 11 to 13 months, at the side wall in 6 to 8 months, and at the 

 heels in 3 to 5 months. We can thus estimate with tolerable accu- 

 racy the time required for the disappearance of such defects in the 

 hoof as cracks, clefts, etc. 



Irregular growth is not infrequent. The almost invariable cause 

 of this is an improper distribution of the body weight over the 

 hoof — ^that is, an unbalanced foot. Colts running in soft pasture or 

 confined for long periods in the stable are frequently allowed to grow 

 hoofs of excessive length. The long toe becomes " dished " — that is, 

 concave from the coronet to the ground — ^the long quarters curl for- 

 ward and inward and often completely cover the frog and lead to 

 contraction of the heels, or the whole hoof bends outward or inward, 

 and a crooked foot, or, even worse, a crooked leg, is the result if the 

 long hoof be allowed to exert its powerful and abnormally directed 

 leverage for but a few months upon young plastic bones and tender 

 and lax articular ligaments. All colts are not foaled with straight 

 legs, but failure to regulate the length and bearing of the hoof may 

 make a straight leg crooked and a crooked leg worse, just as intelli- 

 gent care during the growing period can greatly improve a con- 

 genitally crooked limb. If breeders were more generally cognizant 

 of the power of overgrown and unbalanced hoofs to divert the lower 

 bones of young legs from their proper direction, and, therefore, to 

 cause them to be moved improperly, with loss of speed and often with 

 injury to the limbs, we might hope to see fewer knock-kneed, bow- 

 legged, '' splay-footed," " pigeon-toed," cow-hocked, interfering, and 

 paddling horses. 



If in shortening the hoof one side wall is, from ignorance, left too 

 long or cut down too low with relation to the other, the foot will be 

 imbalanced, and in traveling the long section will touch the ground 

 lirst and will continue to do so till it has been reduced to its proper 

 level (length) by the increased wear which will take place at this 

 point. While this occurs rapidly in unshod hoofs, the shoe prevents 

 wear of the hoof, though it is itself more rapidly worn away beneath 

 the high (long) side than elsewhere, so that by the time the shoe is 

 worn out the tread of the shoe may be flat. If this mistake be re- 

 peated from month to month, the part of the wall left too high will 



