HORSESHOEING. 
By Joun W. Apams, A. B., V. M., 
Professor of Surgery and Lecturer on Shoeing, Veterinary Department, 
University of Pennsylvania. 
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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 sufficient 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. 
(Pls, 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 14 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. 
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