784 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



to one side of the centre, and, whichever side it may be, is 

 the one in which the gap in the toe of the shoe should be 

 greatest; 



The shoe should be made in the ordinary way and fitted ; 

 the cross-bar is then welded on, and finally the required 

 portion of the toe cut out, the cut edges of the toe being 

 bevelled off just like the heels of the shoe. 



There are other methods of shoeing a stumbler, of which 

 the well-known ' turned up ' toe is an excellent shoe. 



A horse may be a chronic stumbler and yet never come 

 down ; another horse may never have stumbled in its life, 

 but one day falls without warning and breaks both knees. 



It is the latter class of stumbling we are now going to 

 consider, viz., the horse that really comes to the ground 

 and damages its knees. The causes of this are comprised 

 under those already considered with certain additions. For 

 instance, a horse placing his foot on a loose stone may 

 come down, especially if it be a thin sole, and actual pain 

 results from the pressure of the stone. A horse may fall as 

 if shot when there is no evident cause, though in some 

 such cases we have known leg weariness to be the cause. 



A horse is more liable to fall at a trot than at any other 

 pace, and he does more damage to his knees when at the 

 trot than at any other time. 



He may come completely on to his head at the canter 

 without touching his knees, though he cuts his forehead ; 

 he may fall at the walk and merely graze the parts. 



When an animal saves itself from falling it is due to the 

 opposite fore leg, though both the rider and driver take 

 credit to themselves for ' holding the horse up.' A horse 

 may be kept from stumbling by taking a short hold of his 

 head, by which means he is compelled to pick his fore feet 

 up, and bring his hind legs under his body. But if he 

 once blunders no holding up will save him, he saves himself 

 or fails. Evidence of this is the rarity of a single broken 

 knee. Obviously if a horse falls and breaks one knee its 

 fellow could never have been on the ground ; it is a rare 

 condition, the most common one is that the opposite fore leg 



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