DISEASES. 



653 



all its limits, and while protecting the heels, does not predispose 

 to their contraction. For its application, the plantar border only 

 needs paring. That of the sole, the frog and the bars must be 

 carefully avoided. 



For the shoeing of Gharlier, or peri-plantar (Figs. 499 and 

 500) the part of the hoof which is most exposed is protected. It 



Fig. 499.— Foot prepared for Charlier Shoe. Fia. 500.— Foot Shod; Charlier's Method. 



preserves entirely all the other parts of the plantar surface in such 

 a way that, as in the conditions of nature, it is only by the fact of 

 the wearing of the shoe that the excess of hoof is gradually re- 

 moved. The foot shod by this process is provided at its inferior 

 border with a metallic bar, often greater in thickness than in 

 width, lodged in a groove made exclusively in the wall. This bar 

 adapts itself in its internal circumference to the contour of the 

 sole, which projects beyond the border of the groove, because all 

 its thickness has been preserved as well as that of the frog and of 

 the bars. In this way the rest of the foot receives its adjustment 

 from the shoe itself, and by the regions of the plantar surface 

 which it surrounds. This result does not, however, take place 

 immediately, or when the foot is recently shod ; but by degrees, 

 and as the shoe wears out, the time arrives when the horse walks 

 both on his shoe and the sole of his foot. Owing to the general 

 equalization of the friction any partial wear is thus diminished. 



