58G OPEEATIONS ON THE FOOT. 



wall is straightened more or less perpendicularly, or even obliquely- 

 backward, so that the superior border of the wall is more forward 

 than the inferior. The superior levers participate always in this 

 vicious direction, which constantly brings back the rest of the 

 foot toward the anterior part of the wall, and, according to its 

 degree, makes the animal walk more or less on the toe, even some- 

 time obliging him to rest on the anterior face of the hoof ; the 

 heels are raised from the ground, and the fetlock, instead of being 

 open forward, seems to be turned backward. This deformity, 

 which exists especially in the hind legs, is very common, and is 

 even natural in mules, and supposes, with its presence, high heels, 

 which throw the rest on the toe, which is always very thick. It 

 may also exist with low heels, especially when due to overwork or 

 other accidental cause. Horses which, like mules, are club-footed 

 only by a peculiar condition of the parts, walk with firmness, and 

 even puU better and work better in hiUy countries. If they are 

 unfit for the saddle, it is because their reactions are hard, and that 

 they tire the rider. It is not so with those which are club-footed 

 from hard work ; they continually stumble, are subject to knuck- 

 ling, to interfering, or even to falling ; and for these reasons do 

 they always require a mode of shoeing which would give them the 

 missing solidity, and render their walk more steady. This cir- 

 cumstance indicates the necessity of sparing the toe, and throwing 

 the weight back on the heels, which, however, must not be pared 

 off too much. The best shoe for such feet must be short, thin at 

 the heels, with a thick toe, slightly raised upward, and prolonged 

 beyond the level of the border of the wall ; small heels to the shoe 

 are often advantageous, as giving an opportunity for rest and 

 relief. The shoe with truncated branches of Lafosse (slipper), 

 which is a short shoe, not extending beyond the quarters, and 

 leaving the heels free, is sometimes used. This shoe is very thick 

 at the toe, and very thin at the heels. It is unnecessary to say 

 that club foot is often cured by tenotomy, or by treatment of the 

 tendinous retraction. 



(d) Crooked foot.—We call by this name the foot whose sides 

 are not of the same height ; it may be crooked outward or inward. 



This deformity may result from a vice of direction of the regions 

 above ; ordinarUy, however, only from a deviation of the phalan- 

 geal one. Sometimes it is due to bad shoeing, to bad paring of 

 the feet ; sometimes it follows unequal wearing of the foot, it being 



