CHAPTER VI. DROP SOLE AND PUMICED FOOT.

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This miserable condition of the abused animal is Nature's fiercest protest against the ignorance and carelessness of man. A horse set upon heavy shoes, and those armed with calks at toe and heel, such as are usually inflicted upon large draft-horses, has his whole weight placed upon the unsupported sole. The frog never comes in contact with the earth in any way, inflammation of the sensitive frog and sole takes place, and the arch of the sole bends down under the pressure until the ground surface of the hoof becomes flat or convex, bulging down even lower than the cruel iron that clamps its edge. This is the condition of a drop sole. This degenerate state of the foot has other complications. Active inflammation is often present and all the wretchedness of a pumiced foot—the despair of owner and veterinary—is experienced. The smith, whose clumsy contrivance has been the cause of all the woe, has abundant reasons to offer for the disease, and his unfailing resort of the "Bar Shoe." This atrocious fetter is supplemented with leather pads, sometimes daubed with tar, and the horse hobbles to his task. Not unfrequently the crust at the front of the hoof sinks in, adhering to the sole; circulation being cut off,

SEEDY TOE

is then manifest.

The only possible relief from these complications is in natural action. Contraction is not present, but we want circulation, new growth and absorption; we obtain it by dressing the foot smoothly with the rasp and putting the bearing evenly upon the frog and a light shoe, which should be merely a continuation of the wall of the foot. Many very bad cases shod in this way have been relieved. No grease or tar should ever be used.

CONTRACTION, OR DROP SOLE, WITH SORENESS AT THE TOE.

Shoe as previously directed, and rasp or cut the sole and wall at the toe into a slightly hollow shape, so that you could pass a knife-blade between the hoof and shoe. The object of this is to relieve the hoof from pressure at this point. In cases where the toe is thin and weak, or where there is inflammation extending to the point of the frog, remove as much of the sole pressing against the frog as seems feasible, and level the toe-calk, so that the horse will bear upon the frog and side-calks.

It is often well to free a shrunken frog from the binding growth of sole that has closed in upon it, and in cases of contraction, where this is done, a horse will recover the action of the frog with less difficulty than where that organ is sole-bound.

THRUSH.

This is a filthy, fetid disease of the frog. By many veterinary writers it is attributed entirely to damp stables, general nasty condition of stall, yard, etc. Mayhew ingenuously remarks, in addition, that it is usually found in animals that "step short or go groggily," and that the hoof is "hot and hard." Youatt comes to the point at once in saying that it is the effect of contraction, and, when established, is also a cause of further contraction. It is manifest in a putrid discharge from the frog. The matter is secreted by the inner or sensible frog, excited to this morbid condition by pressure of contraction. Its cure is simple and easy if the cause is removed. A wash of brine, or chloride of zinc, three grains to the ounce of water, is generally used to correct the foulness.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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