Diseases of the Horse's Foot

by H. Caulton Reeks

By this unequal paring of the toe and the heels greater weight is thrown upon the posterior half of the foot. What then happens to the structures thinned as we have described is this: the pared frog, lessened in volume, does not meet the ground. It therefore fails to expand laterally with weight, and cannot assist, as normally it should, in aiding the heels generally in their movements of expansion. The weakened bars and the thinned sole, meeting with no opposition from the frog, give downwards and inwards with the body-weight at the precise moment these movements should be directed mainly outwards. As a further result of non-resistance on the part of the frog, this time in a lateral direction, the bars, the sole, and the wall at the heels all contract at the exact time they should expand. The end result must mean abnormal pressure and bruising of the sensitive structures in that particular region. Naturally, also, the excessive thinning of the horn renders direct injury to the sole from stones or other objects in the road far more probable.

For this one reason alone—the manner in which it favours the production of corn—too great a condemnation cannot be placed upon excessive paring of the sole, the bars, and the frog.

When corns are already present, as they may be from other causes, the same remarks will again apply to excessive paring. It is the custom with many smiths to carefully pare down the discoloured horn in every case of corn they meet with, and at the same time to again weaken the bars and even part of the wall at the heels, with the laudable idea of relieving pressure on the part diseased. After what has gone before, we need hardly say that their well-meant efforts have a precisely opposite effect to the one they intend.

The fitting of the shoe is, perhaps, to a greater extent responsible for the causation of corn than is the paring we have just described.

A few of the evils connected with the shoe may, however, be justly described as unavoidable. We must shoe; we cannot shoe and leave a normal foot!

A shoe excessively seated, especially from the last nail-hole backwards, may be regarded as dangerous. In this case, with every application of the body-weight, there is given to the foot a tendency to contract, especially at its lower margin. Result: undue pressure upon the tissues around and the production of corn.

On the other hand, varying with the form of foot, the seating may be insufficient. In the case of flat-foot, or dropped sole, for instance, insufficient seating will lead to undue pressure of the web of the shoe upon the sole, and in that way bring about bruising of the sensitive sole beneath.

Shoes with heels or calks too high, by destroying the counter-pressure of the frog with the ground, serve to bring about a series of changes we have described under contraction, and again result in pinching and bruising of the sensitive structures.

The opposite excess—a shoe thick at the toe and thin at the heels—is blamed by Zundel for causing a like injury. In our opinion, the reason this author gives—namely, that the throwing of greater weight upon the heels leads to bruising of the sensitive structures—can only correctly apply to a wrongly-applied shoe of this type, and not to the shoe itself. True, a shoe with a thick toe and thinned heels will throw an undue proportion of the body-weight upon the heels if the foot is not properly prepared for it. A wise man, however, will most certainly so cut down the toe for the reception of this shoe that, with the shoe in position, there will still be maintained a tread that is normal. To our minds harm is far more likely to arise from a shoe of this class through the thinned iron heels of the shoe becoming attenuated under wear to the point of bending, and so inflicting an injury upon the adjoining sole.

Similarly, this last remark with regard to the thinning of the heels of the shoe will apply to a shoe with too broad a web. As the thinning of the shoe proceeds with wear, the inner portion of the thinned branch is bent up on to the sole, and again inflicts the injury.