THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
43 
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 knuckling, 
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 upwards, 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 outwards or 
inwards. 
This deformity may result from a vice of direction of the regions 
above; ordinarily, however, only from a deviation of the pha¬ 
langeal one. Sometimes it is due to bad shoeing, to bad paring 
of the feet; sometimes it follows unequal wearing of the foot, it 
being without shoe. Colts which have never been shod, and are 
walking for a long time on hard and rough ground, often present 
this condition. 
The horse with crooked feet inwards, specially if the devia¬ 
tion is much marked at the toe, is exposed to cut himself with 
the internal heel of the shoe—to bruise himself; the horse with 
crooked feet outwards cuts himself with the inner toe. Besides 
these, lameness, from lacerations of articular ligaments, may 
often follow. 
This is relieved, specially in young animals, by lowering the 
side of the wall which is the highest, and sparing the other; the 
proper shoe for this condition must be thicker in the branch cor- 
