Chapter X

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That the method is followed by satisfactory results the undermentioned case will show:

'A mare, which I have had in my possession since she was a foal, has always had contracted feet, which were also unnaturally small.... Lately the mare has been going very "short," and at length her action was quite crippled. At times she was decidedly lame on the off fore-foot. At no time have I been able to detect any sign of structural disease. I thereupon concluded that the lameness was due to mechanical pressure on the sensitive structures, and I determined to try the effects of the above treatment. As this was my first experience of the process, I was careful to carry it out in all its details, as described by Professor Smith. After the bar shoes had been put on, the mare was very lame. I allowed her two days' rest, then commenced regular walking exercise, and she daily improved. After fourteen days there was no lameness, but still short action. I thereupon gave the mare another week's walking exercise, at the expiration of which I drove her a short turn of five miles, which she did quite well, and free from lameness. For three months I kept the saw-cuts open to the coronet, and continued the bar shoes, keeping the mare at exercise, and giving her occasionally a drive. She never liked the bar shoes, and I was glad when I could discontinue them, which I did in the fourth month. When shod with the usual shoes the complete success of the treatment was shown. I have now had her going with the ordinary shoes for the past two or three months, and the improvement in the shape of the feet is very marked; there is no lameness; the mare is free in movement, fast, and spirited, whereas previously she was quite the reverse, and almost unfit to drive.'[A]

[Footnote A: W.S. Adams, M.R.C.V.S., _Veterinary Journal_, vol. xxx., p. 19.]

This method, though but recently introduced to the English veterinary surgeon, is by no means new. According to Zundel, it was recently made known on the Continent by Weber, but was previously known and mentioned by Lagueriniere, Brognier, and Hurtrel d'Arboval.

When the grooving is in a horizontal direction, a single incision is sufficient. This is made 3/4 inch below the coronary margin of the wall, and parallel with it, extending from the point of the heel for 2 or 3 inches in a forward direction. As in the previous method, a bar shoe is applied, and the animal daily exercised. Thus separated from the fixed and contracted portion of the wall below, the more elastic coronet under pressure of the body-weight commences to bulge. The bulging is of such an extent as to cause the new growing hoof from the top to considerably overhang the contracted portion below, and cure of the condition results from the newly-expanded wall above growing down in a normal direction.

This consideration of contracted heels may be concluded by drawing attention to the advisability of always maintaining the horn of the wall in as soft and supple a condition as is natural by the application of suitable hoof dressings.

A useful one for the purpose is that made with lard, to which has been added a small quantity of wax or turpentine.

Especially should a dressing like this be used when the hoof is inclined to be hard and brittle, and where tendency to contraction has already been noticed.

The application of a hoof ointment is also particularly indicated where the foot is much exposed to dampness, where the animal is compelled to stand for long periods upon a dry bedding, or where the bedding is of a substance calculated to have a deleterious effect upon the horn.

This, in conjunction with correct shoeing, will probably serve to avoid the necessity for more drastic measures at a later time.

_(b)_ LOCAL OR CORONARY CONTRACTION.

_Definition_.--Contraction at the heels, confined to the horn immediately succeeding that occupied by the coronary cushion. Really, the condition is but a somewhat arbitrary subdivision of contracted hoof, as we have just described it in general. For that reason we shall give it but very brief mention.

_Symptoms_.--In this case the horn of the heels, instead of running down in a straight line from the coronary margin to the bearing surface of the wall, presents a more or less distinct concavity (See Fig. 79, _a_, _a_).

As is the case with contraction considered as a whole, this deformity may affect one or both heels; and during its first appearance, which is after the first few shoeings, the animal may go distinctly lame.

_Causes_.--Coronary contraction may occur in hoofs of normal shape immediately shoeing is commenced, and frog pressure with the ground removed. It is far more likely to ensue, however, if the hoof is flat, with the heels low, and the wall sloping. And with those predisposing circumstances it is that the horse goes lame, and not with the hoof of normal shape.

Seeing, then, that this condition is largely dependent upon the shape of the foot, we may, to some extent, regard it as hereditary. Seeing further, however, that it only appears when shoeing is commenced, we may in a greater degree also regard it as acquired. The lesson, therefore, that this and other forms of contraction should teach us is the carefulness with which the shoeing should be superintended in a large stud, or in any case where the animal is of more than ordinary value.

[Illustration: FIG. 79.--HOOF WITH LOCAL OR CORONARY CONTRACTION (AS INDICATED AT THE POINTS _a, a_).]

The explanation of the restricted nature of this form of contraction is simple enough. We have only to refer to the lessons taught by the experiments of Lungwitz, described in