HORSESHOEING. 



153 



Fig. 132. 



5. The Crooked Hoof. 



A crooked hoof (Fig. 132) is one whose walls (viewed from in 

 front or behind) do not pass in a straight, natural direction from 

 the coronet to the ground, but are bent in such a manner that 

 the bearing-surface of the wall in relation to the foot axis lies 

 either too far out or in. 



It may occur on any foot, but is seldom strongly marked. 



Causes. — The causes are either long-continued leaving of one- 

 half of the wall too high, or the use of shoes shaped for normal 

 feet upon hoofs of the base- 

 wide position. 



The principal part of the 

 treatment is the proper dress- 

 ing of the hoof. The wall 

 which is bent out at the mid- 

 dle and drawn in at the plantar 

 border is, as a rule, too high 

 and too near the centre of the 

 foot (too narrow) ; the oppo- 

 site wall, on the contrary, is 

 too low and too far from the 

 centre of the foot (too wide). 

 This explains the manner in 

 which the hoof should be cut 

 down and rasped. The shoe 



must be laid out as far as pOS- j^ crooked right fore-hoof of the hase-wide 

 ci'hlp toward q the side which position : a, convex wall, too high ; 6, concave 



siDie towaras me biue wmcu i-^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ cd shows how much of the 



is too high and narrow. A outer waU must be removed with the hoot- 

 i • 1,+ ^A„r. ^\r,naA ao-ninst knife ;/, superfluous horn to be removed grad- 



straight edge placed agamst ^^^^ ;4j, fj.^ ,^p .,, and » a indicate the 



the high wall touches it only position of the shoe with relation to the hoof. 



at its middle. The distance 



of this line from the lower edge of the wall shows us how far the 

 surface of support-namely, the shoe-should be set out beyond 

 the horn. If the straight edge be placed against the opposite 



