FIG. 63.—TIP SHOE. The dotted portions represent the length of the branches removed.
Treatment.—The greater part of the treatment of contracted foot will almost suggest itself as a corollary of the causes we have enumerated. The normal width of the heels may be renewed, and development of the wasted frog brought about by one of three methods:
1. By restoring the pressure from below to the frog.
2. By the use of an expansion shoe.
3. By operative measures upon the horn of the wall.
1. By Restoring the Pressure from Below to the Frog.
This may be accomplished as follows:
(a) By Shoeing with Tips.—This method is advocated by Percival, by A.A. Holcombe, D.V.S., Inspector. Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S.A., by Dollar in his work on horseshoeing, and by many others.
Though requiring more care than in fitting the ordinary shoe, the application of a tip is simple. In reality, the tip is just an ordinary shoe shortened by truncating the heels.
Before applying the tip, the horn of the wall at the toe should be shortened sufficiently to prevent any undue obliquity of the hoof, and the foot should be so prepared as to allow the heels of the tip to sink flush with the bearing edge of the wall behind it.