Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Part 69

_Wide and narrow hoofs._--Finally, there are wide hoofs and narrow hoofs, dependent solely upon race and breeding. The wide hoof is almost circular on the ground surface, the sole but little concave, the frog large, and the quality of the horn coa.r.s.e. The narrow hoof has a strongly "cupped" sole, a small frog, nearly perpendicular side walls, and fine-grained, tough horn.

_Hind hoofs_ are influenced in shape by different directions of their pasterns much as front feet are. A hind hoof is not round at the toe as a front hoof is, but is more pointed. Its greatest width is two-thirds of the way back from toe to heel, the sole is more concave, the heels relatively wider, and the toe about 10 steeper than in front hoofs.

EXAMINATION PRELIMINARY TO SHOEING.

The object of the examination is to ascertain the direction and position of the limbs, the shape, character, and quality of the hoofs, the form, length, position, and wear of the shoe, the number, distribution, and direction of the nails, the manner in which the hoof leaves the ground, its line of flight, the manner in which it is set to the ground, and all other peculiarities, that at the next and subsequent shoeings proper allowances may be made and observed faults corrected. The animal must, therefore, be observed both at rest and in motion.

At rest, the observer should stand in front and note the slant of the long pasterns. Do they drop perpendicularly, or slant downward and outward (base-wide foot), or downward and inward (base-narrow foot)?

Whatever be the direction to the long pastern, an imaginary line pa.s.sing through its long axis, when prolonged to the ground, should apparently pa.s.s through the middle of the toe. But if such line cuts through the inner toe the foot-axis is not straight, as it should be, but is broken inward at the coronet, an indication that either the outer wall of the hoof is too long (high) or that the inner wall is too short (low). On the contrary, if the center line of the long pastern falls through the outer toe the foot-axis is broken outward at the coronet, an indication that either the inner wall is too long or the outer wall too short.

The observer should now place himself at one side, two or three paces distant, in order to view the limb and hoof in profile. Note the size of the hoof in relation to the height and weight of the animal, and the obliquity of the hoof. Is the foot-axis straight--that is, does the long pastern have the same slant as the toe, or does the toe of the hoof stand steeper than the long pastern (fig. 6c)? In which case the foot-axis is broken forward at the coronet, an indication, usually, that the quarters are either too high or that the toe is too short.

If the long pastern stands steeper than the toe (fig. 6a) the foot-axis is broken backward, in which case the toe is too long or the quarters are too low (short). In figures 6a and 6c the dotted lines pa.s.sing from toe to quarters indicate the amount of horn which must be removed in order to straighten the foot-axis, as shown in figure 6b.

Note also the length of the shoe.

Next, the feet should be raised and the examiner should note the outline of the foot, the conformation of the sole, form and quality of the frog, form of the shoe, wear of the shoe, and the number and distribution of the nails. Does the shoe fully cover the entire lower border of the wall? or is it too narrow, or fitted so full on the inside that it has given rise to interfering? or has the shoe been nailed on crooked? or has it become loose and shifted? is it too short, or so wide at the ends of the branches as not to support the b.u.t.tresses of the hoof? Does the shoe correspond with the form of the hoof? Are the nails distributed so as to interfere as little as possible with the expansion of the quarters? are there too many? are they too large? driven too "fine" or too high? These are questions which the observer should put to himself.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--a, Side view of foot with the foot-axis broken backward as a result of too long a toe. The amount of horn to be removed from the toe in order to straighten the foot-axis is denoted by a dotted line; b, side view of a properly balanced foot, with a straight foot-axis of desirable slant; c, side view of stumpy foot with foot-axis broken forward, as a result of overgrowth of the quarters. The amount of horn to be removed in order to straighten the foot-axis is shown by a dotted line.]

Note carefully the wear of the old shoe. It is the unimpeachable evidence of the manner in which the hoof has been set to the ground since the shoe was nailed to it, and gives valuable "pointers" in leveling the hoof. Wear is the effect of friction between the shoe and the ground at the moment of contact. Since the properly leveled hoof is set flat to the ground, the "grounding wear" of a shoe should be uniform at every point, though the toe will always show wear due to scouring at the moment of "breaking over." Everything which tends to lengthen the stride tends also to make the "grounding wear" more p.r.o.nounced in the heels of the shoe, while all causes which shorten the stride--as stiffening of the limbs through age, overwork, or disease--bring the grounding wear nearer the toe.

An exception should be noted, however, in founder, in which the grounding wear is most p.r.o.nounced at the heels.

If one branch of the shoe is found to be worn much thinner than the other, the thinner branch has either been set too near the middle line of the foot (fitted too close), where it has been bearing greater weight while rubbing against the ground, or, what is much more often the case, the section of wall above the thinner branch has been too long (too high), or the opposite section of wall has been too short (too low).

"One-sided wear, uneven setting down of the feet, and an unnatural course of the wall are often found together." How much an old shoe can tell us, if we take time and pains to decipher its scars!

The horse should next be observed at a walk and at a trot or pace, from in front, from behind, and from the side, and the "breaking over," the carriage of the feet, and the manner of setting them to the ground carefully noted and remembered. A horse does not always move just as his standing position would seem to imply. Often there is so great a difference in the form and slant of two fore hoofs or two hind hoofs that we are in doubt as to their normal shape, when a few steps at a trot will usually solve the problem instantly by showing us the line of flight of the hoofs and referring them to the regular, base-wide, or base-narrow form.

No man is competent either to shoe a horse or to direct the work till he has made the precited observations.

PREPARATION OF THE HOOF FOR THE SHOE.

After raising the clinches of the nails with a rather dull clinch cutter ("buffer") and drawing the nails one at a time, the old shoe is critically examined and laid aside. Remaining stubs of nails are then drawn or punched out and the hoof freed of dirt and partially detached horn. The farrier has now to "dress" the overgrown hoof to receive the new shoe; in other words, he has to form a base of support so inclined to the direction of the pasterns that in motion this surface shall be set flat upon the ground. He must not rob the hoof nor leave too much horn; either mistake may lead to injury. If he has made a careful preliminary examination he knows what part of the wall requires removal and what part must be left, for he already knows the direction of the foot axis and the wear of the old shoe and has made up his mind just where and how much horn must be removed to leave the hoof of proper length and the foot axis straight.

A greatly overgrown hoof may be quickly shortened with sharp nippers and the sole freed of semidetached flakes of horn. The concave sole of a thick-walled, strong hoof may be pared out around the point of the frog, but not so much as to remove all evidences of exfoliation. The wall should be leveled with the rasp till its full thickness, the white line, and an eighth of an inch of the margin of the sole are in one horizontal plane, called the "bearing surface of the hoof." The bars, if long, may be shortened, but _never pared on the side_. The branches of the sole in the angle between the bars and the wall of the quarters should be left a little lower than the wall, so as not to be pressed upon by the inner web of the shoe. "Corns," or bruises of the pododerm, are usually a result of leaving a thick ma.s.s of dry, unyielding horn at this point.

The frog should not be touched further than to remove tags or layers that are so loose as to form no protection. A soft frog will shorten itself spontaneously by the exfoliation of superficial layers of horn, while if the frog is dry, hard, and too prominent it is better to soften it by applying moisture in some form, and to allow it to wear away naturally than to pare it down. It is of advantage to have the frog project below the level of the wall an amount equal to the thickness of a plain shoe, though we rarely see frogs of such size except in draft horses. The sharp lower border of the wall should be rounded with the rasp to prevent its being bent outward and broken away. Finally, the foot is set to the ground and again observed from all sides to make sure, that the lines bounding the hoof correspond with the direction of the long pastern.

THE SHOE.

The shoe is an artificial base of support, by no means ideal, because it interferes to a greater or less degree with the physiology of the foot, but indispensable except for horses at slow work on soft ground. Since a proper surface of support is of the greatest importance in preserving the health of the feet and legs, it is necessary to consider the various forms of shoes best adapted to the different forms of hoofs. Certain properties are common to all shoes and may be considered first. They are form, width, thickness, length, surfaces, borders, "fullering," nail holes, and clips.

_Form._--Every shoe should have the form of the hoof for which it is intended, provided the hoof retains its proper shape; but for every hoof that has undergone change of form we must endeavor to give the shoe that form which the hoof originally possessed. Front shoes and hind shoes, rights and lefts, should be distinctly different and easily distinguishable.

_Width._--All shoes should be wider at the toe than at the ends of the branches. The average width should be about double the thickness of the wall at the toe.

_Thickness._--The thickness should be sufficient to make the shoe last about four weeks and should be uniform except in special cases.

_Length._--This will depend upon the obliquity of the hoof viewed in profile. The acute-angled hoof (fig. 5a) has long overhanging heels, and a considerable proportion of the weight borne by the leg falls in the posterior half of the hoof. For such a hoof the branches of the shoe should extend back of the b.u.t.tresses to a distance nearly double the thickness of the shoe. For a hoof of the regular form (figs. 5b and 8) the branches should project an amount equal to the thickness of the shoe. In a stumpy hoof (fig. 5c) the shoe need not project more than one-eighth of an inch. In all cases the shoe should cover the entire "bearing surface" of the wall.

_Surfaces._--The surface that is turned toward the hoof is known as the "upper," or "hoof surface," of the shoe. That part of the hoof surface which is in actual contact with the horn is called the "bearing surface"

of the shoe. The "bearing surface" should be perfectly horizontal from side to side, and wide enough to support the full thickness of the wall, the white line, and about an eighth of an inch of the margin of the sole. The bearing surface should also be perfectly flat, except that it may be turned up at the toe ("rolling-motion" shoe, fig. 5 a, b, c.) The surface between the bearing surface and the inner edge of the shoe is often beaten down or concaved to prevent pressure too far inward upon the sole. This "concaving," or "seating," should be deeper or shallower as the h.o.r.n.y sole is less or more concave. As a rule, strongly "cupped" soles require no concaving (hind hoofs, narrow fore hoofs).

_Borders._--The entire outer border should be beveled under the foot.

Such a shoe is not so readily loosened, nor is it so apt to lead to interfering.

_Fullering._--This is a groove in the ground surface of the shoe. It should pa.s.s through two-thirds of the thickness of the shoe, be clean, and of uniform width. It is of advantage in that it makes the shoe lighter in proportion to its width and, by making the ground surface somewhat rough, tends to prevent slipping.

_Nail holes._--The shoe must be so "punched" that the nail holes will fall directly on the white line. They should be confined to the fore half of front shoes, but may occupy the anterior two-thirds of hind shoes. For a medium-weight shoe three nail holes in each branch are sufficient, but for heavier shoes, especially those provided with long calks, eight holes are about right, though three on the inside and four on the outside may do.

_Clips._--These are half-circular ears drawn up from the outer edge of the shoe either at the toe or opposite the side wall. The height of a clip should equal the thickness of the shoe, though they should be even higher on hind shoes and when a leather sole is interposed between the shoe and hoof. Clips secure the shoe against shifting. A side clip should always be drawn up on that branch of the shoe that first meets the ground in locomotion.

SPECIAL FEATURES AND FITTING THE SHOES.

_A shoe for a regular hoof_ (figs. 7 and 8) fits when its outer border follows the wall closely in the region of the nail holes and from the last nail to the end of the branch gradually projects beyond the surface of the wall to an eighth of an inch and extends back of the b.u.t.tresses an amount equal to the thickness of the shoe. The shoe must be straight, firm, air-tight, its nail holes directly over the white line, and its branches far enough from the branches of the frog to permit the pa.s.sage of a foot pick. Branches of the shoe must be of equal length.

In fitting a shoe to a hoof of regular form we follow the form of the hoof, but in base-wide and base-narrow hoofs, which are of irregular form, we must pay attention not only to the form of the hoof but also to the direction of the pasterns and the consequent distribution of weight in the hoof, because where the most weight falls the surface of support of the foot must be widened, and where the least weight falls (opposite side of the hoof) the surface of support should be narrowed. In this way the improper distribution of weight within the hoof is evenly distributed over the surface of support.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--Left fore hoof of regular form, shod with a plain "fullered" shoe. Note the distribution of the nails, length of the fuller (crease), and the closeness of the ends of the shoe to the branches of the frog.]

_A shoe for a base-wide hoof_ should be fitted full on the inner side of the foot and fitted close on the outer side, because the inner side bears the most weight. The nails in the outer branch are placed well back, but in the inner branch are crowded forward toward the toe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.--Side view of hoof and shoe shown in fig. 7. Note the straight toe, weak ring formation running parallel to the coronet, clinches low down and on a level, length of the shoe, and the under-bevel at the toe and heel.]

_A shoe for a base-narrow hoof_ should be just the reverse of the preceding. The outer branch should be somewhat longer than the inner.

_A shoe for an acute-angled hoof_ should be long in the branches, because most of the weight falls in the posterior half of the foot. The support in front should be diminished either by turning the shoe up at the toe or by beveling it under the toe (fig. 5a).

_A shoe for a stumpy hoof_ should be short in the branches, and for p.r.o.nounced cases should increase the support of the toe, where the most of the weight falls, by being beveled downward and forward.

In many cases, especially in draft horses, where the hoofs stand very close together, the coronet of the outer quarter is found to stand out beyond the lower border of the quarter. In such cases the outer branch of the shoe from the last nail back must be fitted so full that an imaginary perpendicular dropped from the coronet will just meet the outer border of the shoe. The inner branch, on the other hand, must be fitted as "close" as possible. The princ.i.p.al thought should be to set the new shoe farther toward the more strongly worn side. Such a practice will render unnecessary the widespread and popular fad of giving the outer quarter and heel calk of hind shoes an extreme outward bend. Care should be taken, however, that in fitting the shoe "full" at the quarter the bearing surface of the hoof at the quarter be not left unsupported or incompletely covered, to be pinched and squeezed inward against the frog. This will be obviated by making the outer branch of the shoe sufficiently wide and punching it so coa.r.s.e that the nails will fall upon the white line.

_Hot fitting._--Few farriers have either the time or the skill necessary to adjust a cold shoe to the hoof so that it will fit, as we say, "air-tight." Though the opponents of hot fitting draw a lurid picture of the direful consequences of applying a hot shoe to the hoof, it is only the abuse of the practice that is to be condemned. If a heavy shoe at a yellow heat be held tightly pressed against a hoof which has been pared too thin, till it embeds itself, serious damage may be done. But a shoe at a dark heat may be pressed against a properly dressed hoof long enough to scorch, and thus indicate to the farrier the portions of horn that should be lowered without appreciable injury to the hoof and to the ultimate benefit of the animal.

_Nailing._--The horse owner should insist on the nails being driven low.

They should pierce the wall not above an inch and five-eighths above the shoe. A nail penetrating the white line and emerging low on the wall destroys the least possible amount of horn, has a wide and strong clinch, rather than a narrow one, which would be formed near the point of the nail, and, furthermore, has the strongest possible hold on the wall, because its clinch is pulling more nearly at a right angle to the grain (horn tubes) of the wall than if driven high. Finally, do not allow the rasp to touch the wall above the clinches.

THE BAR SHOE.

The bar shoe (fig. 9) has a variety of uses. It enables us to give the frog pressure, to restore it to its original state of activity and development when, by reason of disuse, it has become atrophied. It gives the hoof an increased surface of support and enables us to relieve one or both quarters of undue pressure that may have induced inflammation and soreness. The bar of the shoe should equal the average width of the remainder of the shoe and should press but lightly on the branches of the frog. The addition of a leather sole with tar and oak.u.m sole-packing allows us to distribute the weight of the body over the entire ground surface of the hoof.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 9.--An acute-angled left fore hoof shod with a bar shoe. Note the width and position of the bar and the fact that the nails are placed well toward the toe, so as not to interfere with the expansion of the quarters.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.--A fairly formed right fore ice shoe for a roadster. The top and outer-heel calks cut at right angles, and the inner-heel calk is slender and blunt. The back surface of the toe calk should be perpendicular.]