602 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
clinker was under the shoe at the heel ; he showed it to the 
carter at the time, and requested him to take it home and 
show it to his master. The carter said, Si No, but I will tell 
him all about it.” Remembers the gray horse coming the day 
after he was shod with his shoe “ ripped off,” and very lame. 
He is certain there were no other lame horses belonging to 
the plaintiff, that came to their place to be shod. 
Mr. Greaves, M.R.C.V.S,, was then called, and gave evidence 
that the injuries stated were not of unfrequent occurrence ; 
that the matter secreted from injuries or pricks was never of 
a white colour at first, but of a dirty-brown colour, and 
even black if long in the foot and in contact with the nail ; 
and that the treatment employed by the defendant was very 
proper under the circumstances. 
It was further stated by Mr. Greaves, in answer to questions 
put to him by the counsel and the Court, that it was a very 
frequent occurrence for a horse cf to pluck off a shoe” when at 
work upon the streets of Manchester, especially when newly 
shod. The calkins at the heels and toe of the shoes are 
longer at that time and more apt therefore to get fast between 
the stones. The shoe being thus drawn half off, the nails 
which are still fast in it stand up like so many harrow-teeth, 
and at the same time the shoe may be twisted somewhat 
across the foot, so that when the horse sets his foot down 
again the nails are forcibly driven into the sensitive parts of 
the foot, or a similar thing may occur from the clips of the 
shoe. These injuries are frequently more serious than those 
which occur in ordinary cases of pricking. He further stated 
that pricking was a casualty which was wholly unavoidable 
in many cases, however careful the smith might be. That 
even in perfectly healthy feet the smith might prick a horse 
and not know it, although he was paying the strictest 
attention at the time. The nail, for example, might run 
higher up the horn than usual, instead of coming out at 
the place intended. It might likewise bend in the driving, and 
thus take a wrong direction ; or its point might split, and one 
come out as intended, while the other would enter the 
sensitive parts of the foot. A man cannot know in every 
instance that an injury has taken place, as the horse may not 
evince pain at the time. If, however, the horse flinches 
the smith instantly withdraws the nail, and either leaves it 
out entirely or takes a very shallow hold. It often happens 
that a horse does not show any lameness for many days 
afterwards; this depending upon the degree of injury. It is 
impossible to shoe horses with very thin and weak horn 
without sometimes occasioning lameness, or at least tender- 
