The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-11
shoeing Horses Sci. nt,ficaIIy

From the Northwestern Lumberman.
The proportionment and equipollency
of the feet are indispensable elements
in farriery for the weil-being of the
feet and legs and the immutable pro-
duction of a perfect and rhythmicai
gait. The slightest deviation from the
proper medium in preparing the feet
may excruciate the animal and incite
calamitous injury to his motor power.
1t may be the predisposing cause of
corns, quittor. compression of the
bones, sand cracks, contracted heels,
thrush, speed cracks (so-called) in trot-
tiers etc. Every horse should be shod
level, but what is the true conception
of this rule? 1t does not imply, accord
ing to the common superstition, that
the foot alone should be perfectly level,
nor that each heel should measure ex-
actly the same distance from the con-
nection of wall and flesh to surface lay,
nor that the sides of the foot should be
correspondingly level from the heels to
toe.
The feet should be prepared that the
articulation will be correct throughout
the entire system of joints In the feet
and legs. Then, and not until then.
the horse will be shod level. Horses
possessing a faulty, or, at least, pecu-
liar conformation, require certain por-
sixteenth TO one-fourth or an inch Tor
even more in rare cases) lower than
other points of the feet, in order to get
the tunctures of the bones mechani-
cally true. This Is often true of point
ing outward, interfering, knee-hitting
feet in front and interfering feet be-
hind; although horses symmetrically
formed to assume unnatural attitudes
on account of the faulty position of the
foot produced by an excessive growth
of hoof beneath either side of the coffin
bone.
In a recent address before the Farm
ers' club of New York Professor Ro-
berg said:
1T is not necessary with many horses
to look at the form of the foot. We can
tell by his way of travelling what to do
with the foot without picking 1t up"
/ am going further than the professor.
In most horses we can discern the
faulty action by the form of the foot
without seeing him travel These state
ments corroborate each other. In sub
stance 1t is possible for an unbalanced
and improperly proportioned foot to
produce all of the foot diseases and i'm
perfect modes of travelling. including
elbow hitting, pitching, scalping, inter-
fering and knee banging, etc. And II
is equally possible to prevent or eradi-
cate them by proper shoeing, with the
exception OF rare cases Oh knee DdnB
ing and interfering in front, which
are occasionally due to unsymmetrical
legs.
A foot should be in proper proportion
to the size of the horse and balanced
so that the articulation will be correct
in all the joints of the legs. A foot
may be in proper proportion and still
remain unbalanced-that is, II may
contain a correct number of cubic
inches, but the amount of horn at GER
tain points may be too excessive to
comply with the laws of nature, while
at other points the growth may be in
sufficient. 1t requires the eye of an ex-
pert in balancing the feet of horses pos
sessing a peculiar conformation. No
certain rule can be adopted for this
purpose, since the conformation varies
in different horses, but the writer will
submit a rule, absolute and invariable,
for proportioning the foot, which a
novice can put into practical use. The
depth at center, in front of foot. should
measure about so per cent of its di-
ameter, and this measurement should
be two and two-thirds times the depth
of the heels from coronary band to sur
face lay, or figure very close to
thaGa